Then came Janto with a baby carriage
by 2910leiv
Summary: Jack and Ianto find a little something on their doorstep. First fanfic. First 11 chaps are funny, then the plot becomes more apparent and the story becomes more dramatic.
1. Chapter 1

The freezing wind was whipping in. Rolling over the city like a run amok freight train. The sound of it howling in his ears, as he walked along on the wet pavement. Ianto pulled his collar up and bowed into the wind. Shivering slightly he approached the door to the tourist office. Who had come up with the bright idea that they should have warm rolls from the bakery and that he was the one to fetch them? Grumbling under his breath he fumbled in his pocket for the keys. And then he noticed the object standing innocently in front of the entrance. He squinted. Surely no tourists would leave a suitcase out there. No one would be stupid enough to go sightseeing in this weather, would they? Besides hadn't they ever heard of bomb scares? He shook his head. It was too big to be a suitcase. No it had to be something else. But with the wind making his eyes water, it was difficult to tell.

He walked closer. It looked like… surely not… but it was. A pram, a baby carriage. He held his breath, as he walked closer. Inside he could just make out the face of a sleeping baby. It was bundled up in a warm duvet and warm winter clothes. None the less the baby's cheeks were red from the cold, a little cloud of moisture visible in the air as it breathed.

Ianto looked around, hoping to see the child's mother somewhere nearby. But the few people out and about were hurrying along, huddled against the cold and desperate to be indoors. Not a frantic mother in sight, he sighed to himself. He turned back to look at the pram and the baby in it.

'If this has something to do with Jack, I will kill him.'

Jack sat at his desk, pretending to read a report from Toshiko on some technology they had stumbled across last week. It was actually rather interesting, but not enough to keep him from daydreaming about the delectable young Welshman who should be arriving soon. He wet his lips remembering how his lips had felt when they kissed last night. Mmm, and the cute little sounds he made last week when… he jumped, startled by the sudden noise of the phone. He pulled a face, but it quickly turned into a smile when he noticed the name on the display.

"Ianto! Lo..." he was cut off abruptly by Ianto's terse voice.

"Get upstairs. Now!" and the line went dead.

'Uh oh, what have I done this time' he thought, as he frowning glared at the phone. 'He seemed happy enough last night. Very happy.' He leered at the mental image of a debauched Ianto and sighed. 'Better go find out.'

He quickly made his way up the stairs to the tourist office and entered. Nothing had prepared him for the unique sight that met him.

Inside, amongst the rows of pamphlets and the counter, stood a green baby carriage. The wet tire tracks on the floor, had to be driving Ianto mental, he thought. But when he looked at the young man, he could see that he was oblivious. Ianto was staring down into the pram looking like he was afraid it would explode or something. For a moment Jack thought there might be a bomb there. Stranger things could happen. It was Torchwood after all. But when he looked closer, he saw that it was just a baby.

"What's this? Something you haven't told me?" he joked. Ianto jumped.

"What! Me? I could ask you the same thing." He practically screamed. And sounding disturbingly serious.

"What? Ianto I was joking! Where does the baby come from? How did it get in here?" 'Wait, did I just ask my boyfriend were babies come from' Jack thought, as he watched Ianto throw a fit.

"How the Hell should I know where it came from! And I couldn't very well leave it out in the cold. It's freezing out there!" he was panting and his face was red. Jack thought he had never looked as sexy as in that moment. He opened his mouth to tell him that, but was cut off by the loud wailing of the baby. Ianto shot him a now-look-what-you-did glare. Jack decided to ignore the fact that it had been Ianto and not him that had been doing the shouting. He carefully rolled back the duvet and gently picked up the screaming child.

"Hey, what's all this? Huh? What are you making such a fuss about? Did that loud man scare you?" he said to the kid as he settled it on his chest and cradled its little head against his shoulder and neck. 'Well there goes my hearing for the foreseeable future' he grimaced. He had forgotten how loud babies could be. Had Alice really been that loud? He rocked the kid gently. "shhhh" he whispered.

"Jack, look!" Ianto picked up an envelope that had fallen to the ground. He opened it and pulled out a thick wad of documents. On top was a letter followed by an official looking form and a thick pamphlet concerning some alien species called Saluvian. He started reading aloud.

_Dear __Mr.'s Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones,_

_Torchwood, United Kingdom, Earth, Sol III._

_This letter is to inform you of death and last will of one Sybille Caralneska, Fourth house of Travesty, Hallowed End, Hallow IV. Mrs. Caralneska's life was terminated by her husband upon the discovery of her many infidelities. Mr. Caralneska awaits justice according to Saluvian Law. Mrs. Caralneska leaves behind seven children and one husband. _

_She writes to you both in her last will and testament quote "Thanks for the good time boys. I remembered you fondly. You were both so much better than that cretin of a man I was married off to. Anyway, our little escapade had some consequences. His name is Orion and he's right little darling. I know, he will find a better home with his real dads, than with my husband. Take care of my little star and tell him about me some day." End quote. _

_Enclosed is the official document signing over all parental right to Mr.'s Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones, effective immediately. Further enclosed is information on the Saluvian species._

_Congratulations on your recent fatherhood._

_Yours sincerely_

_Minora Melua Ipsi_

_Solicitor, Banker & Master Plumber_

They looked at eachother.

"Shit!"


	2. Ch2 Mayhem, biters and pteradons

**Thanks to all who have shown an interest in this story, especially to those who have rewieved. It means a lot. I hope I don't let you down. Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Mayhem, biters and Pteradons

Gwen strolled calmly into the tourist office later that morning. Being distracted by thoughts of Rhys and their fun in the shower earlier, she didn't notice the dried tire tracks on the floor. She stopped briefly in front of the door to the hub, doing a quick double-check of her appearance. She wanted to make a good impression on Jack. Maybe today would be the day she finally landed him. She had to admit he put up a good fight. Though he flirted outrageously with her, he never acted on it.

'Damn him' she thought 'and damn that puffed up schoolboy too. Boyfriends? Who do they think they're kidding?' She'd get her man. She would make sure of it. With that resolution in mind, she opened the door and headed down to the Hub.

At the bottom of the stairs she opened the door and stepped in… to utter mayhem. Myfanwy was circling under the roof, screeching loudly. Toshiko was standing by the railing to the autopsy bay, frantically leafing through a pamphlet and shaking her head. Down in the autopsy bay itself Jack was desperately holding on to a small dragon - 'what?' – which had furiously clamped its teeth onto Owens right hand. It seemed to be growling, but it was difficult to tell with Owen howling in pain at the top of his lungs and Jack screaming at both the doctor and the dragon.

"Orion, let go!" she heard Jack shout. "Owen will you stop moving! You are only making it worse."

"It doesn't say anything about dragons, Jack" Toshiko shouted "But it does say that the Saluvians are shape changers." She looked down at the scene rather frantically.

"Aaaarghhh! Make that bloody thing let go!" Owen bellowed.

"It's not a thing. It's a child and you're frightening him." Jack shouted back. He almost lost his grip on the struggling dragon. The little body wriggled and its wings were flapping hitting Jack in the face. Its tail was thumping him in the side and he could practically feel the bruises forming.

"Orion, calm down. Stop now. Owen didn't mean to hurt you. Did you Owen?" He looked pointedly at the doctor, who shot him a death glare in return.

It was at this moment Ianto made his entrance, appearing next to the stunned Gwen. He stopped for a brief moment to take in the spectacle. Upon hearing another of Jacks pleas for Orion to let go, he dropped all of the bags he had been carrying and charged down to the autopsy bay.

"Orion! Stop! Now!" he commanded upon reaching the floor of the bay. The little dragon froze, let go of the doctors hand with a startled "eeep" sound. Then its little face brightened with joy and before anybody could react, it jumped free of Jacks grip and into Ianto's arms. The Welshman was too startled to do anything but grab hold of it, to keep it from falling. The little creature – 'baby' he reminded himself – clung to him. Its little body was shivering slightly. It snuggled against him. Rubbing its head against his neck, like a cat and making a sort of purring-trilling noise. Up in the rafters Myfanwy screeched a response. Suddenly the dragon seemed to shimmer and a moment later Ianto found himself holding a very human looking baby. The baby hugged him and then pulled away only to look him straight in the eye.

"Tad!" he proclaimed happily, in a high-pitched child's voice. Ianto nearly dropped him.

Jack grinned from ear to ear and walked over to them. Laying a hand on the baby's back and giving a quick kiss to Ianto. Owen grumbled under his breath while he saw to his injured hand. Words like "not a fucking veterinarian", "rabies", "coroners never have to deal with this shit" and something sounding suspiciously like "should be put on a leash" could be heard. Jack shot him a stern warning glance. Owen turned his back to him as he started disinfecting the bite wound 'a fierce set of chompers' he thought distractedly.

Orion turned to look at Jack. He pointed toward Owen and said: "Bad man." Pouting he looked back at Jack. Owen snapped his head around and glared at the child. Jack chuckled.

"No, Owen's not a bad guy. He just acts that way." Owen glared at him, put kept quiet.

"What happened?" Ianto asked, adjusting his grip. The kid was getting heavy. Again Jack chuckled.

"Owen took a blood sample and next thing we knew the kid turned into a dragon and tried to make a meal of his hand."

"Mean man hurt me." Orion scowled at Owen, with a cute little pout on his lips.

"He's talking! How can he talk at that age?" Toshiko gasped. They all looked at her, as if they had just come to that realisation too. Orion did his best to roll his eyes and sent them all a look that obviously said "well, duh!"

Myfanwy took another swing around the central structure, the tower, and with a final screech she flew up to her nest. She always thought her humans were good for a show, but today was just a right laugh.

Gwen finally snapped out of it and yelled down: "Will someone please tell me what's going on?"

~~XxXxXx~~

An hour later the baby carriage had been pulled off the invisible lift and Ianto's shopping bags were gathered and stowed away. Most of the contents had been baby related. Diapers, clothes, baby food, even a little teddy bear and some other toys. Orion's nappies had been changed and they were now regrouped in the meeting room. Ianto was passing out coffee to everyone, while Jack was holding a sleeping Orion. The baby's head was resting on the man's shoulder. Toshiko, Owen and Gwen each sat at the table with different expressions on their faces.

Owen was still looking rather disgruntled. His hand was throbbing and he'd need to administer another painkiller. Besides that, he didn't think his abilities at drawing blood was so poorly, that he wouldn't have been able to do it painlessly. 'Damn brat is properly just squeamish or something.'

Toshiko was looking at Jack and Orion. The petite woman had a look of complete adoration on her face. 'Properly gonna start spouting baby nonsense any moment soon' Gwen thought angrily as she accepted a steaming mug from Ianto. She sent him a short "Thanks." before going back to scowling angrily. 'This had better be good' she thought 'first the young Welshman had moved in on her property and now there was a baby? Ah ah, ain't gonna happen, sunshine. He's mine.'

As Ianto sat down, Jack cleared his throat and said:

"All right, let's get this over with" he sighed. "When Ianto returned to the Hub this morning, he found the baby in the carriage outside."

"Wait, why was Ianto returning to the Hub? Aren't you two living together in Jacks room?" Toshiko interrupted. Ianto and Jack shared a look of surprise. "What? It's not like it's a big secret, you know. We all figured it out back when we did the rooms up."

About six months ago they had cleared out a few of the storage rooms downstairs and turned them into a couple of bedrooms. The first room was like a hospital room. Perfect if one of them were injured. The second room had bunk beds, in case they were under a lock down or something, the third was a room made for Jack. It wasn't big, but it did have room for a double bed, a closet, a sofa, a small coffee table and a TV set. It certainly was nicer than the bunker Jack still kept under his office. He figured he would need a secret place to crash, if Ianto decided to kick him out of bed one night.

Ianto sighed. 'So much for privacy' he thought.

"I'd been fetching breakfast." He murmured as Toshiko broke into a smile at his indirect admission. "I took the lift up – what? I like that thing, it's fun! (He shot a look at Jack, upon seeing his teasing expression) – and when I returned I found Orion in front of the tourist office."

"Yes, yes, we know that part already. What happened after that? Where does the baby come from?" Owen harped. The others nodded.

"Well," Ianto looked at Jack pleadingly "there was a letter." They turned to look at Jack.

Jack pulled out the letter and read it to them.

The silence was heavy. Then Gwen voice rang through the room:

"What? What does that mean Jack? Jack? What does that mean?" she couldn't, no wouldn't believe what she thought it meant. 'It can't be, no, no, no.'

Both Owen and Toshiko rolled their eyes at her. Ianto frowned and Jack was focusing on Orion, making sure he was still comfortable and asleep.

"It means that they knocked up some two-timing alien bitch and now are stuck with the result." Toshiko calmly told her. Owen sent her a surprised look of respect. 'Wow, who knew she had it in her. Always the quiet ones' he smiled to himself.

Gwen's mouth moved in astonishment, but no words came out. Jack chuckled and Ianto looked embarrassed. How would he ever be able to live this down? Jack had promised him no one would ever find out.

After an awkward silence Owen decided to speak up:

"The real interesting thing here is how it is even possible. The tests clearly show you both to be paternal parents. Hell you can tell just by looking at the kid." They all looked at the child in question. It was true. Neither father could deny the parentage. The stunning eyes and devil-may-care smile was clearly Jacks doing. And the dark hair, the bone structure of the jaw and nose had Ianto Jones written all over it. The kid was beautiful and even at this early age you could tell he would grow up to be a heartbreaker.

"Maybe I can answer that." Toshiko said after a while. She held up the thick pamphlet titled _Oxbridge's easy guide to the Saluvian species._ "I've had time to look this thing through. It states that the female Saluvians are able to store semen from multiple males and combine DNA elements from each to impregnate their eggs with." Everyone looked at her in shock. She continued:

"It's a really remarkable species. They are shape changers and can apparently take on any shape they wish. They are also telepathic, empathic and can see a person's energy signature - like an aura. They also have the ability to perform some sort of teleportation and some of them can have a whole range of… other … cool abilities." She slowed to a halt, when she noticed the shocked expressions on the others faces. Okay, so maybe she had been a little too enthusiastic in her explanation, but it really was amazing what these people could do.

Ianto was the first to shake himself out of it.

"How…" his voice cracked and he had to start over. "How is it that he is here? I mean… it wasn't all that long since… since…" he looked down at the table. His face was turning red. "You know." Jack smiled fondly at him. It never seized to amaze him how the young man could speak dirty to him in bed, but was barely able to mention sex to others without blushing. He rather liked it. The dirty sexually uninhibited Ianto was his and his alone. 'Well almost. There had been Sybille." He thought wryly.

"How long ago was it?" Toshiko asked pointedly. 'Honestly he's a grown man. He should be able to speak about sex in adult company' she thought with a teasing smile. Ianto looked at Jack questioningly.

"Five months?" he asked. Jack nodded. Toshiko nodded to herself.

"But that kid has to be at least ten or twelve months old." Owen spluttered.

"Ha, well that proves it. It's not your kid. It is somebody else's shag waste product." Gwen screeched, looking at Jack joyfully. They all turned to stare at her in shock. In fact Jack looked ready to commit murder.

"Are you blind, woman?" Owen said angrily.

"Of course he's their child" Toshiko began, but was cut off by an irate Ianto who flew out of his chair, sending it flying.

"What did you call my son?" he yelled. The meeting descended into chaos as they all started shouting. Jack tried yelling them all into submission, but soon found himself too busy. The angry Orion did not take kindly to the manner he had been woke by and made his dissatisfaction known. His loud screaming outdid them all.

Up in her nest Myfanwy sighed to herself. 'Really, why do humans always make things so complicated? It's easy to take care of a youngling. You stuff a fish down its throat at regular intervals and hope it doesn't choke on it and when the time comes, you push it out of the nest and watch it use its wings or plummet to the ground. How hard can it be!' she turned her back to the noise and tugged her head under her wing.


	3. Ch3 Meetings, fluffiness and weevils

**Thanks again for the interest in this story. Your reviews have made my day. I'm glad you like it. I'm now feeling the pressure to keep it up. I shall do my best. Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Chapter 3: Meetings, fluffiness and weevils

It took both Jack and Ianto a long time to quiet Orion down. The child was still looking rather unhappy, sitting on Ianto's lap, when Jack called the meeting back to order. The adults had dispersed for a while. Taking the opportunity to calm down. They were adults after all and not a bunch of screaming school kids, as Jack had pointed out at some point.

Now they were sitting at their places again. Looking a bit shameful and still a bit angry with one another.

"Right, now can we proceed or are there any more ridiculous statements to be made about my son?" Jack stared at Gwen until she looked down at the table. She had the good grace to look ashamed. She never imagined they would all react like that to what she had said. Looking back she realized she had made a mistake. Jack obviously thought the kid was his and had already developed some sort of emotional attachment. She looked at the child. Its face was blotchy red from crying and it had snot coming out of its nose. 'His' she corrected her self. 'It's a He. Okay if it – _he_ – got cleaned up, maybe – _maybe_ - he would look kinda cute. If he really was Jack's son, how could he avoid it?'

"Okay, Tosh," he turned to look at her. "When we discussed Orion's age and the amount of time since our encounter with Orion's mother, you nodded. Do you know something?" He shot a quick apologetic look at Ianto, who was giving him a look of betrayal. The others noticed, but instead of commenting Toshiko launched into an explanation.

"Yes, it's in here," she held up the pamphlet of _Oxbridge's easy guide to the Saluvian species_.

"Imagine that. A child with an instructions manual" Owen harped. Toshiko shushed him.

"The Saluvians have exceptionally short pregnancies." She said. "Just 10 weeks. And the children have extremely short childhoods. It only takes them about 15 months until they reach adulthood. After that the aging process slows down dramatically. The life expectancy is 300-something years."

Owen looked at her deep in thought. The medical ramifications… if he could study the child and find out the source of their longevity… he caught the look in Jacks eyes. 'Nope, never gonna happen. Papa bear won't ever allow it.'

Gwen was staring at the table so as not to catch the eye of any of the others. Her thoughts remained a mystery.

Ianto's on the other hand were plain as day. 'So little time.' He had not had the happiest of childhoods but he still had his fair share of fond memories. All that time spent running around, getting into trouble, exploring the estate and the surrounding area with his sister and their friends. How would his son ever get to experience things like that? In fact would he ever be able to go outside? What if he changed into a dragon again in front of people? What if he bit another child like he had Owen? He was brought out of his growing panic by Jack's hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw the fond smile and the understanding in Jack's beautiful eyes. He felt his worry settle in a place deep inside him, where he knew it would always be. He would always worry for his son and for Jack. It was funny how swiftly he had come to love a child he hadn't even known exited a few short hours ago.

Smiling Jack gently caressed Orion's cheek making the child coo and brake out in a happy grin. One he immediately recognized as his own. It melted his heart instantly and his smile grew soft. 'Maybe this kid would be there for him when the others were long gone. When Ianto… no,' he broke away from his train of thought. 'Don't go there. He's here. Now. That's all that matters.'

He forced himself to turn away and faced the others.

"Okay. Owen, I need you to go over the samples you took from Orion and complete his physical. See what you can find." Owen nodded, if a bit reluctantly. Ianto didn't look too thrilled either. "Toshiko, Gwen, I want both of you to go out and buy a child's travel bed and a mattress for it." They looked surprised. "You know the type? The camping style ones that fold out?" They both nodded their understanding of the type. "After that come back here and finish your ordinary work. Gwen, you still owe me that report on the Sontaran incident last week."

They got up and headed to the door. Gwen muttered that purchasing baby furniture for her boss and his boyfriend wasn't in her job description, which earned her a quick jab in the ribs from Toshiko. Owen smirked. He was beginning to change his view of the petite Asian. He stopped suddenly in the door and turned around facing Jack and the still seated Ianto with Orion.

"You know, you still haven't told us how you came to be in a threesome with an alien."

~~XxXxXx~~

Late that evening Jack went into his room on the lower floors of the subterranean structure. The girls had done a good job on the purchase of the bed. It was of an acceptable quality. He really would have liked a proper bed made out of wood, but the kid would outgrow the bed really soon so there was no point. Anyway, with the travel bed they could move it easily. Right now it stood cramped in among the side of the bed and the wall. He would have to climb in and out at the bottom of the bed or climb over Ianto, if he wanted to get up. There really wasn't much extra space to spare. They would have to think about making a room for the kid soon. He smiled at the domesticity of his thought. It had been awhile since he had done this. Not since Alice was young.

'Ah Alice… Maybe I should tell her of her younger brother.' He thought, but shook his head. No there was no way she would understand this. She had trouble enough with the _immortality issues – _not to mention the boyfriend/would-be-stepfather that was younger than her. He snorted inwardly. 'No, best not open that can of worms.'

He turned around to see the most adorable sight. Ianto was lying on the sofa with Orion on his chest. Both were soundly asleep. Ianto's mouth was slightly open and a bit of drool had trickled down his cheek. Gentle snores could be heard from the Welshman. Jack chuckled fondly 'and he claims he doesn't snore.' He tiptoed over and carefully picked up the sleeping baby. His eyes flickered but he didn't wake up. Jack gently removed the little sweatshirt, the pants and the tiny socks and put the kid in the bed. He tugged the duvet from the pram around him and kissed him softly on the forehead.

He snuck back to the sofa and sat on the coffee table. He shook the arm of the sleeping man. Ianto jumped, startled out of his sleep.

"Jack. What? The baby?"

"Shhh, I put him to bed." He said in a hushed tone and held a finger to his lips. Ianto caught on, nodded and sat up. "Some day, huh?" he whispered with a smile and plunked him self down in the sofa beside him. Ianto smiled back at him.

"Mindboggling." was the reply. They shared a comfortable silence. Then Jack put an arm around Ianto's shoulders and said:

"That Sybille…" and he grinned, laughing silently. Ianto looked at him sharply, before slowly beginning to do the same.

"Yeah."

Again a silence.

"So… You… Me… A kid... How are we going to handle this?" Ianto asked softly. A pause.

"I don't know, Love. We'll find a way." Ianto nodded and snuggled closer. He loved to cuddle up to the man and smell his unique scent. Jack smiled at him fondly and hugged him closer. They sat together like that for a long time. The Welshman's eyes closing in a semi-doze. Jack was just about to suggest they retire to bed, when the alarms sounded.

They both jumped at the sound. Orion jumped too and immediately changed into his dragon form, hissing at the noise and looking around for danger. Jack sprung up and quickly made his way over. He picked up the little dragon, being careful of the small sharp claws.

"Daddy." The dragon/child sounded frightened. His little voice quivering. Jack stiffened a little in reaction to being called daddy. But he quickly mellowed and set about calming his son. He carried Orion with him as he headed up to the Hub floor. Ianto followed.

xxXxx

Ianto activated the computer.

"Weevil sighting in Splott" he said after a moment. Jack sighed. 'Why is it always in Splott?'

A few phone calls later and they knew they had a problem. Owen was drunk and on the pull. Toshiko was across town and would take too long to get back. Gwen wasn't answering. They looked at each other. Ianto felt chills running down his back – and not the good kind – when he saw the look in Jack's eyes.

"No Jack. Absolutely not. No. We are not taking a baby with us on a weevil hunt. Jaaack!" he called after the man, as he headed out of the Hub. Baby turned dragon still in his arms.

xxXxx

A while later they were driving along the nearly empty streets.

The ride did not go smoothly. Jack was cursing inwardly at having to drive much too slowly and having taking so long to get the struggling dragon/baby strapped in. Ianto was however complaining loudly enough.

"This is a bad idea, Jack. We don't even have a car seat, for crying out loud! We can't bring a baby on a weevil hunt. What if something happens?"

"Yes, I heard you the first time." Jack muttered angrily. Orion was still struggling under the seatbelt and making a lot of strange distressed sounding noises. Ianto turned in his seat and looked back at Orion.

"It's okay baby. Daddy and Tad will let you loose real soon." Jack cringed inwardly. He was beginning to regret his rather rash decision. But it was too late now. They were almost there.

The car pulled up to a large fenced-in area with forbidding looking warehouses scattered around the place. It looked relatively well maintained, as such places go. Most of the windows were intact. The chain and lock on the gate were still there. Jack sighed. They would have to climb the fence then. He nodded to Ianto, who plainly ignored him. They got out of the SUV and Jack went around the back to retrieve their weapons and extra ammunition. 'Doesn't hurt to be prepared' he thought. Meanwhile Ianto was doing his best to calm their son down.

"No go. Me go too." He heard the child protest. The sound of a struggle followed. Ianto was trying to keep the dragon/baby from getting free of the seatbelt. He stepped around the car and looked over Ianto's shoulder.

"No, you have to stay here and guard the SUV." He said, thinking quickly. The dragon/baby cocked his head to one side.

"Guard?"

"Yes," Ianto added "so no one will take the car away." The little one seemed to consider this for a moment.

"Okay." He sat down calmly on the seat and folded the wings along his back and the tail across his feet. A determined look was on his face - it would have made them smile if the situation hadn't been urgent.

"Good." They both breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they could do this after all.

"Come on, let's get this over with." He said to the young man at his side and to their son he said "We'll be back real soon." And he closed the door before Ianto could spend any more time hovering like a mother hen.

They made their way over to the wall of one of the buildings. Guns drawn and held at the ready. When they reached the corner, he whipped his head around, took a quick look and whipped back again. 'James Bond eat your heart out' he smirked. He signalled the clear sign to his partner and moved around the corner. It took him a pace or two to realize that Ianto wasn't following. He snapped back to see what the hold up was. Ianto was looking the other way. Towards the SUV. Though there was nothing to be seen there, due to the tinted black windows.

"Ianto." He hissed. The owner of the name jumped and snapped around to look at him.

"Sorry." He mouthed. Jack growled to himself. They would talk about this later. It was time to focus on the job at hand.

They moved along the wall. Falling into step from long practise. They knew how to do this. They had done this so many times before, that it was almost like a dance. In fact they had done this the night they met. Jack had been chasing a weevil and loosing sight of it in a city park. When the weevil suddenly attacked him, Ianto turned up out of nowhere and clobbered it with a sturdy branch. The next night they caught Myfanwy together. Jack jokingly called it their second date.

They spent the next fifteen minutes searching the property. Without any results. Jack was just about to call it off, when a weevil jumped at him from out of nowhere. It latched onto his throat, ripping and tearing through flesh. 'Oh shit' he managed to think before losing consciousness. Ianto was just about to empty his gun into the weevil, when a blur of motion appeared in front of him. A loud challenging screech answered the weevils snarl. Wings were flapping. Making the weevil retreat slightly. Familiar wings. Ianto's blood turned to ice. 'No.'

"Orion?" 'But how did he get out?' The dragon/baby ignored him and charged at the weevil. He was latching on to its leg and sinking his teeth deep into its flesh. The weevil roared in pain. It tried shaking the feisty little beast loose. Orion snarled and starting shaking his head, like a dog, doing tremendous damage to the bite wound. The weevil finally managed to kick off the little creature and took off at a run.

"Orion NO!" Ianto screamed, as the dragon/baby took off after the weevil. He hadn't yet completely mastered the art of flying, so he was propelling him self along with a combination of flapping his wings for a few beats and sort of skip-hopping along the ground. The weevil looked over its shoulder and snarled at its tiny pursuer. Orion gave a little roar back. While hardly the impressive roar of a lion it did edge the weevil on.

Ianto cursed in both English and Welsh. He couldn't risk firing his gun now. He might hit his son. With a brief reproachful glance at the still dead Jack and a quick thought of 'I'm gonna kill him' Ianto tore off after his kid and the weevil.

He finally caught up to his son after a few minutes. The dragon/baby was standing on the ground, completely winded, but looking very satisfied.

"Not come back!" Orion yelled after the fleeing weevil. He gave an odd little snort and a small puff of smoke blossomed from his nose.

Ianto was momentarily distracted by the odd sight, but got a hold of him self. The weevil was still within range. There was no way he could let it escape. It had killed Jack. It had tasted human blood. He aimed and fired. The weevil went down hard, its body sliding to a halt along the concrete. Ianto hadn't noticed Orion flinch at the sudden loud sound, but he turned to look down at the little one sitting by his feet.

"Wow, how you do dat?" he said and looked up at his Tad with a very impressed look on his face. Ianto bent down and picked up the kid, tugging him under his arm.

"Never mind that. How did you get out of the car?" he started walking back toward their vehicle. "We told you to stay put." Orion hung his head a little in shame. Then he perked right up.

"Daddy hurt. Me help."

Even with the dragon face Ianto could recognize the telltale Harkness smile. 'Sorry kid, I have too much experience with that particular smile to fall for it' he thought, as he took the long way around the building. It wouldn't do for the kid to see Jack's bloody body on the ground. The whole concept of waking up from the dead is difficult enough for the adults to understand.

"We told you to stay in the car. It could have been you that got hurt." He scolded.

"Me okay." Orion answered, looking puzzled. It was as if he didn't understand at all what the fuzz was about. Ianto awkwardly climbed over the fence with the dragon holding onto him with the little tiny claws. He found the door to the car still locked. But he was too tired to speculate. He had other more pressing matters to attend to.

After having placed Orion on the backseat and obtained a promise that he would stay put this time, he turned back to face the gate. How were they supposed to get the weevil back to the SUV with that thing blocking them? He decided to look in the back for a bolt cutter or something.

As the padlock snapped in two he wondered why they hadn't thought of that to begin with. 'Captain Handsome Harkness probably thinks its more fun that way' he thought angrily and stowed the cutter away.

He found his lover exactly where he had left him and still dead. Sighing he sat down and pulled the captains head into his lap and waited. It wasn't long before he heard the long sudden intake of breath and the man came back to life groaning mightily.

"Hate when that happens." He looked up at Ianto and smiled. No matter how many times he died, it always felt better when he woke up in Ianto's arms. Ianto smiled back at him, though rather tiredly. Then memory resurfaced. But before he could even speak Ianto said:

"I've put Orion back in the car, but I'm gonna need your help with the weevil. Do you feel up to standing now?" Jack nodded and Ianto helped him to his feet. As soon as he was upright it dawned on him what Ianto had said.

"Wait, what do you mean back? Was he out of the car?" Ianto nodded.

"It's a long story." He said tiredly. "Come on, the weevil's this way." He started walking.

"What's the weevil doing way over here?" Jack asked when he finally spotted it. Ianto gave him a look of long suffering.

"Long story?" Ianto nodded.

"Right." He knew he would get the story later. "Let's bag this sucker and go home."

When they finally arrived at the SUV with the heavy weevil in tow – 'we really need to consider installing a gurney' - they were met with the sight of the human Orion sleeping innocently on the backseat.


	4. Ch4 Torchwood morning antics

**Thanks again for the interest in this story. Your reviews have made my day. I'm glad you like it. Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

**Oh, BTW, I don't hope you're squeamish… (you'll see)**

Ch. 4 Torchwood morning antics

The sun broke over the horizon bathing the sleeping city in an orange and pink glow. The hoarfrost clung to every surface. If anybody had been awake and had bothered to look, they would have seen the strange sight of a prehistoric creature gliding gracefully across the sky over the bay. Suddenly it swooped down into the water and came back up a moment later. It flew towards the city and the Roald Dahl Plass. A city garbage truck was moving along its route, gathering the waste and making the streets tidy again. 'Should've been a street sweeper' the burly garbage man thought to him self, at he hauled the heave bins to the truck. He pressed the button that would cause the machine to lift the dirty bins and empty their smelly contents into the hold and crush it; making room for more. They still had a long way to go before being finished for today. 'Must be nice to actually clean the streets. To see it make a difference. All we do is empty the same bins day in and day out.' He pulled the now empty bins off the truck and hauled them back to their original place. He stopped a moment to flap his arms to get warm and looked up at the sky. 'Still it's nice to be out this time of day. No people about, 'cept the really early risers or those that had been out all night.' He was brought out of his musings when he spotted something in the air. 'It's that flying creature again.' He had seen it several times, looking like one of those dinosaurs his kids liked to read about. He knew his co-workers had seen it too, but they never talked about it or any of the other strange things they found lurking about the city at the small hours of the morning. They had all learned to stay away from those ugly humanoid beasts with the teeth. He shrugged and pulled the scruff of his jacket closer. This was Cardiff after all. He went back to work.

xXxXx

It was at about this time that Jack was pacing up and down the corridors on the lower levels of the Hub. In his arms was the screaming Orion. The child seemed inconsolable, as nothing Jack had tried to calm the child had worked. It had been going on for an hour now.

"Maybe he's coming down with something" Ianto said, fretting. "Is he hot?" Jack put a hand on Orion's forehead. The child was a bit hot and his face was flushed, but that could be just from all that crying. He shook his head.

"Orion baby, what's wrong? Does it hurt? Do you need a diaper change?" he asked. The child continued screaming. There was no smell from the diaper, so that wasn't it.

"Maybe he just wants to cry. Sometimes kids do that." Jack said uncertainly. Ianto considered it. It was possible. His sister's kids had cried sometimes, without any discernible reason.

"Maybe he's hungry." Ianto yawned. It really was ungodly early, considering they had gone to bed late because of the weevil chase. He absentmindedly scratched his chest under the t-shirt he had pulled on along with the sweatpants. The lower levels were cold this time of year. Jack smiled at him fondly, walked over and put his hand on Ianto's neck, pulling him in for a kiss.

"Come on, we'll try with some food."

xXxXx

They entered the small kitchen and Ianto busied himself with heating a bowl of baby food and making some coffee. When it was ready, he grabbed the two mugs, the bowl and a spoon. Jack joined him on the old tattered sofa in the Hub. Sitting Orion on his lap he picked up a spoonful of the mush and held it to Orion's mouth. The kid pulled an incredible face of pure disgust, grabbed the spoon and tossed it clear across the room. It could be heard clattering to the floor somewhere over by Tosh's workstation. Orion cried on.

Suddenly there was a movement followed by a wet squelching sound of something landing on the coffee table. Both adults looked at the thing. It was a medium sized fish. Still fresh, as it had no smell other than the smell of the ocean and a slight tinge of pollution. Myfanwy looked down at her humans and their youngling. 'There, that aught to teach them' she thought as she flew back up to her nest.

Orion seemed to be too surprised to cry anymore. He clapped his tiny hands together and laughed heartily. One would thing Myfanwy had been a circus elephant performing tricks for all the joy she had brought. The laugh was infectious and soon the adults were doubled over with it too. That was how Toshiko found them minutes later.

xXxXx

Jack and Ianto had gone back downstairs to shower and get dressed for the day. Toshiko had volunteered to babysit. She really was quite taken with the child and was excited to see if he would display any of the interesting qualities she had read about in _Oxbridge's easy guide to the Saluvian species_. She squatted down in a rather un-ladylike position, causing her skirt to rise dangerously high. 'Oh well, this guy is too little to be any danger.' She thought as she studied the baby. He sat on a blanket on the floor of the Hub. His chubby little body covered in a play outfit. Perfect for tumbling around on floors. He was smiling at her, looking so much like his dads, it was almost uncanny. Particularly that smile. Because of it, he would have the female half of the human race wrapped around his little finger if he ever decided to go into a public line of work.

"Tos." He beamed at her. She smiled back.

"Tosh." She corrected.

"Tos…" he frowned, "Tosh." A very satisfied look appeared on his face and he beamed at her again.

"Yes, Tosh. It's short for Toshiko. Toshiko Sato." She felt a little foolish to be introducing herself to the small child. But then again it only seemed proper. She had read in the pamphlet, that the Saluvians prided themselves on their ability to act properly and show due courtesy.

"Tos-iko?" ok, so he had a problem with the _sh_-sound. He pointed at the object in her hands. 'Oh, right, the toy.' It had been the reason she had found herself so close to the ground in the first place.

"This is called a ball." She said to him. She rolled it to him, making his little face light up in glee.

"Ball." He said proudly. He grabbed a hold of it and wrapped his little arms around it. "Ball." She smiled at him. When he showed no signs of returning the ball to continue the game, she decided to prompt him a little.

"Do you want to play with the ball?" he nodded. "Then roll it back to me." He looked at her suspiciously and then at the ball. He clearly didn't want to part with it. "Then I'll roll it back to you." She hurriedly added. He seemed to consider this, biting his lower lip and looking a bit wary. Then he seemed to reach a decision and rolled the ball back to her. She smiled hugely at him. When the ball rolled back to him, he broke into a huge grin.

"Tos-iko ball" he exclaimed delightedly.

"So is this what you do in the mornings when I'm not here?" Owen was leaning against the work console behind them. She blushed furiously. 'Typical, he _would_ walk in just now.' She hastily got up and straightened her clothes. Her heart hammering in her chest. He smiled nonchalantly. She swore it was like he knew about her hidden feelings for him.

Owen smiled inwardly. 'Damn she looks cute blushing like that. Wait, what? It's Tosh, supreme science geek and vestal virgin wanna-be!' he hurriedly looked away, so as not to revile his thoughts to her. His gaze fell on the little tyke on the floor. His mind turned to the physical and the test results from yesterday. They had been quite interesting. The kid was perfectly healthy as far as he could tell. He had a weird physiology, not to mention the strange things going on with the … well with every part of the body, really. The DNA was weird, so was the blood, and it seemed that there was something weird going on with the breakdown of the enzymes that… Well the kid was just weird. 'alien weird.' He corrected himself, 'one would think the human side would be more prominent in him… considering two-thirds of his parentage is human.'

The kid noticed his gaze on him and pointed to his toy.

"Ball." He said eagerly.

"That's nice, kid." Owen told him and walked away, lost in thought. Orion looked taken aback, not expecting the brush off. He pouted.

"Mean man."

By now Toshiko had gathered her composure. She looked after Owens retreating back and she spotted a spoon of baby food on the floor by her work station.

"How did that get there?" she said to no one in particular and picked it up. Orion made a face when he saw what she was holding. He really did not like banana. Mashed or not. She looked around the Hub and spotted the bowl on the coffee table. "Is that a fish?" she looked around the Hub, but Owen had disappeared down into the autopsy bay, so it was just her and Orion.

Orion clapped and laughed when she picked up the fish and bowl and carried it to the kitchen. She had only just tossed the fish in the trash and was about to empty the bowl, when she felt an insistent tug at the hem of her skirt. Startled she looked down at the cause.

Orion was standing on wobbly legs beside her, still tugging at her skirt.

"What? How did you get here?" her surprised voice echoed on the tiles. Her strong exclamation startled Orion who promptly lost his balance. A strange squelching sound could be heard as his posterior impacted with the floor.

"Yuk." He said quite clearly a moment later. She looked at him closely. He showed no signs of being hurt and there certainly were no tears. 'Wait, he said…'

"Orion, what do you mean by yuk?" 'surely he didn't mean…' she prayed silently. She had begun to notice a certain odour beginning to permeate the room. He pouted at her. She bent down and picked him up. As her hand made contact with his back for support, she became aware of a sticky warm… something… on his back. It was soaking through his shirt, as well as his pants, onto her sleeve. There was no longer any doubt regarding the smell or the substance causing it.

"Shit." She cursed.

Orion nodded seriously. A pout still on his face.

"Yuk."

xXxXx

Five minutes later they were downstairs and approaching the door to the locker room. Orion started squirming on her arm.

"No. Not go in." he pleaded with her, shaking his head. She looked at him sternly.

"You are having a bath and that's final. You can't walk around covered in sh… poop. We are not animals." Her patience was wearing thin. This was not what she had pictured her self doing when she left home earlier that morning. She put her hand on the door handle. Orion hid his face on her shoulder, as if he couldn't bear to watch. She opened the door.

xXxXx

Up in the autopsy bay Owen was lazily surfing the internet, while waiting for the medical computer to finish processing the latest sample. It was therefore quite understandable, he later reasoned with himself, that he jumped and screamed like a little girl, when he heard the loud raucous from the bowels of the Hub.

xXxXx

A few minutes later Toshiko came storming up into the Hub, still carrying the filthy Orion. Her face was an astonishing shade of red. Hot on her heals were the captain and the tea-boy. Both were wet and wearing nothing but towels. 'Tiny towels' Owen noted.

'Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god… I did not just walk in on them having sex in the shower.' She glanced back over her shoulder. 'Oh god, I did! Oh, no, this is _so_ embarrassing.' By the looks of him Ianto wanted nothing better than to become invisible and pretend it never happened. Or better yet, that it _had_ never happened. Jack was taking it calmly. It would take more to faze _him_.

"Tosh, it's ok. Really. You couldn't have known (Owen rolled his eyes at this)." Jack glanced back at Ianto who was half hiding behind him. "We should've locked the door. It's all _our_ fault." Ianto nodded, though not making eye contact with anyone. Tosh was still blushing profusely, but she gave a curt nod in acceptance of the apology.

"Good." He beamed his megawatt smile at her. "Oh hi, Gwen," he said to the figure lurking behind them further into the Hub. Tosh and Owen both turned to look at her. Gwen was staring at Jack with huge eyes and a lecherous look on her face. 'She's practically drooling,' Ianto thought. 'Back off, Bitch, he's mine.' He scowled at her. She didn't notice. Orion too was glaring at Gwen in a pretty good imitation of his Tad. 'Me not like her. She smells weird and her colours are wrong.' (A/N: he means her aura). Gwen started sniffing the air.

"What is that _smell_?" she asked disgustedly.

"Shit." Orion told her defiantly, as if daring her to contradict him. The adults all looked at him sharply. Gwen spluttered, Owen and Jack chuckled, Toshiko blushed again and Ianto looked at Tosh and then back at Orion, as if he didn't know where to start.

An awkward moment passed. Then Toshiko decided to act.

"Well, seeing as you are no longer using the showers, I'll take Orion down there and gets us both cleaned up." She gave a short nod and brushed past the two naked men. Jack put his hand on Ianto's butt and leaned in and whispered something in his ear. Something that made the younger man blush before giving a tiny nod and a smile in return. Owen rolled his eyes and went back to his nice quiet autopsy bay. Gwen stood still, looking after the two naked men as they followed the Asian woman downstairs. It was a really nice sight, but it should be her walking down there with Jack. Not the bloody schoolboy.

Up in her nest Myfanwy guffawed before she finally turned her back on the Hub and went to sleep.


	5. Ch5 Friends in high places

**A huge thank you to all who have read, reviewed, faved and alertet. I'm over the moon that you like this. And just because it's my birthday today *cough penname cough* you get the two chapters in one day.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Chapter 5 Friends in high places

"But then I told Charles that he should just pick some flowers from the garden and give them to Camilla and apologize to her. Then she might forgive him. But he just looked at me as if I had gone off my rocker and proclaimed England as a republic." The elderly lady's kind, but very prim voice sounded over the phone. Jack smiled. He always was rather fond of the old girl. They had had some interesting chats over the years since he "inherited" Torchwood 3 on the verge of the new century. The twenty-first. The one where everything changes.

'But some things still remain the same' he thought. Lizzie would always worry over her family and the country; just as she always would gossip and complain to Jack about both. He was glad when he told her of his relationship with Ianto. She had been nagging him to find someone and settle down. Though by now she did poke him once in a while and ask when he would make an honest man of his Welshman.

"It seems that, according to my son, flowers feel pain upon picking and actually the act of picking them is an act murder, seeing how they will only wilt and die once picked." The woman continued. Jack hmm'ed and mhm'ed at the appropriate moments and let the dear girl chat away.

He looked over at the centre of his office, where Orion was quietly playing with some toys. He had been placed on a quilt on the floor and had a selection of toys scattered around him. He had been playing with a small black car resembling the Torchwood SUV and the little teddy bear Ianto had given him the first day. But now he seemed keener to play with the blue ball Tosh had given him. But it had rolled out of reach at some point and was now located at the far corner of the office.

Jack watched as Orion seemed to analyze and contemplate the situation. He found himself getting nervous. He hoped the child would not begin to fuzz and cry. It wasn't as if he could just hang up on the woman, unless it was a real emergency. He shuttered, as he thought of the 2003 incident. She had been furious and wouldn't talk with him for weeks afterwards. 'Nope, no one hangs up on Lizzie.'

Orion crawled over to the desk and used it to hoist himself upright. He stood for a moment on wobbly legs and with a look of determination he let go and took a step. Then he took another one and another and another. He had gotten all the way over to the corner and had the ball in his arms, when Jack finally overcame his shock and realised what he was seeing. He yelled mightily and dropped the phone and rushed over to his son. Before Orion could even react, Jack scooped him up in his arms and spun both of them around. Grinning from ear to ear he said:

"You walked! You big boy. You just walked all by your self. Aren't you a clever boy?" Orion had first been startled by the yell and by suddenly being picked up by his daddy. He had after all been totally absorbed in his game and was not aware of having performed anything outstanding. Didn't all the grownups walk around?.. and no one seemed to think that was a big deal. But seeing how happy his daddy was, he thought that maybe it _was_.

"Hello? Jack? Are you there? Hello?" the tiny tinny voice came from the speaker on the phone. Without giving it a second thought Jack put the handset on the apparatus and stormed out of the office. He still had Orion in his arms as he called out into the Hub.

"Ianto, Tosh, Gwen, Owen, you won't believe what…" The Hub was empty. He had forgotten. Gwen, Tosh and Owen were out on a retrieval mission. A piece of alien tech had been discovered at a garage sale. Gwen and Tosh could have handled it just fine on their own, but Owen was making a nuisance of himself in the Hub and had finally chosen to tag along just to get a change of scenery. Ianto was out getting supplies for them all. Jack deflated and sighed. 'Oh love, you should've been here for this.' He looked down and locked eyes with his son. The baby had a look of understanding in his eyes that should have been impossible for a child of any age. Let alone a baby. 'Must be that empathy thing again.' Jack reasoned. Tosh had told them about it and Jack had actually taken the time to study the _Oxbridge's easy guide to the Saluvian species _afterwards_._

It said that because Saluvian children grew so rapidly, they did not have time to learn everything a child needs to learn before becoming an adult. The species had therefore developed the ability to absorb information from other people. Indeed some especially gifted children could absorb information from objects as well. It was a pretty awesome ability he had to admit, but he still was worried what the kid might learn. He had taken to strengthening his mental shields around the more sensitive information in his own memories. There were things he didn't want anyone to ever know about.

He was brought out of his suddenly pensive mood as he felt the small arms of his son squeeze him in a hug. He felt his heart melting at the gesture. Surely his little empath had felt his broody emotions and did the only thing he could to help. Jack smiled warmly and placed a soft kiss on top of the child's head.

xxXxx

As Ianto was putting away the supplies he asked:

"How did the talk with the Queen go?" Jack closed his eyes. A feeling of doom was icing up his veins.

"Shit." Ianto looked over at him and was about to speak, when Orion sitting on the kitchen counter asked:

"Tad, do daddy need to go potty?"

xxXxx

The afternoon moved on at a sedate pace. Owen and Gwen were taking turns telling dirty jokes they had found on the internet, while Toshiko had disappeared into the meeting room to study her new alien toy, eh… tech. Jack was helping her though he was just as clueless about the objects purpose as she was. Ianto was tidying the Hub as well as keeping an eye on Orion who was napping on the couch.

Ianto bent down and picked up a crumbled piece of paper and dumped it in his trash bag. He looked up suddenly at the screeching sound from Myfanwy. She had circled down to the floor and came to a graceful landing in front of the coffee table. With a hesitant look she carefully maneuvered closer to the little sleeping form on the couch. Ianto tensed. Though his relationship with the dinosaur was amiable enough, she still had been the creature that had killed Lisa. The cyberwoman. His girlfriend. Behind him he could hear the sharp intake of breaths from Owen and Gwen.

Myfanwy cocked her head to one side and made a soft purring noise. 'Such a weak looking thing, this youngling,' she thought. 'Don't worry, little one, I will protect you' she blinked. Then she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked over at her human. It was the nice one; the one who feeds her. She liked him. 'Maybe he has some of that brown, sweet stuff that tastes so good' she thought and took a step towards him.

Ianto was close to panicking. He had to get the dinosaur away from his child. He looked around desperately to find anything to lure the animal away with or, if need be, to use as a weapon. With wide eyes he saw Myfanwy turn away and look at him. She seemed to sniff the air as she stepped toward him. He flicked a look toward the small kitchen. 'Why had he left the chocolate bar out there?' he berated himself. 'Maybe if I run over there and get it… no, she would most likely see me as prey and chase me down.' His heart picked up speed and he felt sure the sound of its pounding could be heard in the entire Hub.

"Don't move." Owens voice sounded soft but tense. It was followed by the sound of a gun being cocked.

"I know." He was sweating now. He had never really appreciated how large she was. She had carried Jack around in that warehouse. Their second date Jack called it. 'Jack, where are you?' he didn't dare look over at the meeting room. Myfanwy was closer now.

Suddenly there was blurry motion in front of him and the tiny dragon form of Orion had appeared on the floor directly between Myfanwy and Ianto. Myfanwy jumped back in surprise, while Ianto didn't dare move. The dragon and the dinosaur looked at each other; both cocking their heads from side to side. The room seemed frozen in apprehension. Then Orion began to make his dragonish purring-trilling sounds; it was a happy comforting sound and soon Myfanwy replied in kind with her own content noises. They seemed to have reached an understanding.

Before anybody could think to react Myfanwy swooped in and snatched the tiny dragon up in her beak. She held him very gently as she flapped her huge wings and took off.

"No!" several voices cried after her. Jack stood on the stairs to the meeting room with his gun pointing at the dinosaur; tracking it as it flew ever higher. But he didn't have a clear shot from where he was standing.

"I think I can get her." Gwen shouted tracking Myfanwy with her own gun.

"No! You might hit Orion." Owen yelled at her, never taking his eyes of the animal and its precious passenger. Gwen looked as if she thought it was worth the risk. But she pulled the gun away in the end. Ianto couldn't decide if she did so, because she bowed to reason or because it coincided with Myfanwy arriving at her destination; the nest located at the very top of the tower.

**A/N: No animals or children were hurt in the writing of this chapter – though certain liberties were taken with various members of royalty. For this I do apologize ;-)**


	6. Ch6 Rifles, ladders and recycling

**Thanks again for all the interest in this story. Your reviews make me smile each time. I never imagined you would like it this much. Thank you also for all the birthday wishes. I had a very nice day. Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Chapter 6 Rifles, ladders and recycling

They all looked up at the nest far above them. They could just make out the now smaller shape of Myfanwy as she moved around up there. They couldn't see Orion. Jack snapped out of it first and went over to Ianto. As he walked by, Gwen made to intercept him, but he totally ignored her, something he had never done before. She seethed inwardly, as she watched him go over to the bloody schoolboy and gave him all the affection which should've been hers.

"Are you all right, love?" Jack's voice was laced with his concern and underlying emotion. He wrapped his arms around the young Welshman and looked searchingly into his eyes. Toshiko smiled softly and looked away, giving them both some privacy. It was unusual to see and hear the captain be so… gentle and loving toward Ianto. He normally stayed more aloof. He would flirt outrageously and even harass the young man sexually (not that Ianto seemed to mind; quite the opposite really), but the captain had never before so blatantly shown them all the deep level of emotion there was between them. It was just a hug and five simple innocent seeming words. But they made such a tremendous difference. Toshiko sneaked a peak at Gwen. The woman was pale and looked to be in shock. She gaped at the couple as if she just couldn't believe what she was witnessing. Toshiko felt a gaze on her. Owen had noticed Gwen's reaction too. They shared a look.

"I'm fine, she didn't go near me." Ianto forcefully put away the myriad of thoughts crowding his mind regarding all the _could haves_ and _what if's._ "Jack, how are we going to get him down from there?" Jack hugged him even closer, sensing his need for comfort and borrowed strength. Jack sighed inwardly. This was what he did best. He was the calm assertive leader and the hero. Ianto needed him to be strong and their son needed his Daddy to come rescue him. Well, so be it. He would be their knight in shining armour and go off to slay the dragon and save the damsel in distress… 'Err, or… not. The dragon being the damsel and the damsel being the beast to be slayed. Oh man that's a fucked up analogy' he smiled with a soft, barely there chuckle. He kissed Ianto on the forehead.

"I'll climb up there and get him." He said. 'Easy, smeasy'.

"What? Jack no! She'll kill you." Jack gave him a pointed look.

"So? Can't stay dead, remember?" he beamed his megawatt smile at Ianto… Who was having none of it.

"That doesn't mean you should go seek it out at every opportunity!" Ianto was glaring at him. Jack tried to hold firm, but inwardly he was folding. He had lost the ability to be firm and resolute with Ianto in arguments after entering into a real relationship with him. The only exception was when it came to work. Their roles were much clearer then. But this situation was different.

"I know that, but…" Ianto cut him off.

"Do you Jack? Do you really? Because we have a child now; one who doesn't need to see his father drop dead at random intervals through the week." Jack could tell Ianto was getting angry now. He knew it was a sore point and he had stepped on it, big time.

"Guys, maybe this isn't the time…" Owen interjected. Ianto flipped his head around to look at him angrily, while Jack still looked at Ianto. He looked thoughtful.

"I have to do _something_, love" Jack whispered, but Ianto still heard him. He spun back around to lock eyes with Jack. So many things went unspoken between them in that moment. Owen and Toshiko looked on tensely. Then Ianto finally gave in. His body seemed to deflate a moment and with a short curt nod he said:

"Okay, but you have to be careful. I am not scraping you off the floor and handing you over in a bucket for Owen to play with."

"Hey!" Owen cried out, pretending to be offended. Jack smiled fondly and kissed Ianto.

"I will."

Jack turned away and started over toward the rungs of the ladder leading up to the nest. Ianto followed nervously. As Jack was about to start his long climb Ianto grabbed his arm. Their eyes met. The next moment Jack was being snogged passionately. Time stood still as their lips were locked and they reconnected emotionally.

The interruption was quite sudden. Dazed they pulled apart and turned to look at the commotion. Gwen had emerged from the weapons locker with a rifle. She was now striding into the Hub proper with a grim look of determination on her face. Owen was rushing over to her, loudly demanding to know just what she thought she was doing.

"I'm going to shoot her. That way it's just a matter of getting the kid down." Everyone paled.

"That's Myfanwy up there. You can't shoot _her_." Toshiko practically yelled.

"Yeah," Owen added. "She's like a pet or a mascot." Toshiko would have smiled at him, had she nod been so furious at Gwen.

"No one is killing anyone." Jack shouted as he came running over with Ianto hot on his heels. He cringed at the grammar. "Least of all you, miss I-shot-a-snowdrop-searching-yeti." He wrestled the rifle away from Gwen, who was reluctant to let it go.

"But…" he narrowed his eyes and looked at her. She really was stubborn.

"No Gwen. I will not allow you to shoot down Myfanwy like you did that yeti. We will find another way." She bowed her head and looked down. A small nod was all he needed.

"All right, where were we? Oh that's right… Ianto, over here. Pucker up!" he grinned and headed back to the ladder rungs.

xxXxx

Myfanwy was looking down into the Hub suspiciously. Her humans were up to something. She could feel it. All that yelling and they were waving that black stick around. Being a dinosaur Myfanwy had never experienced being hunted by humans. That is, when one disregards how she came to be in the unique position of being a resident of Torchwood Cardiff's Hub. She could remember being scared and trapped in a dark place. She also remembered that two of her humans had come and found her and she took one of them flying. The other one gave her a lot of that brown, sweet stuff that she likes. And then she fell asleep - which was rather strange when she thought about it. She didn't normally go around falling asleep on her feet like that. She looked at the youngling. It had settled nicely in the bottom of her nest. It blinked its sleepy eyes at her and yawned greatly, showing a mouth full of sharp teeth. She purred at it fondly as it tugged its little head under its wing and curled up. She then returned her attention to her humans. 'What are they up to?'

xxXxx

Jack climbed slowly, taking extra care. His lover was watching and there would be hell to pay if he scared him by slipping on one of the rungs. He smiled at the thought. But no, he had to focus. Orion mattered now. He climbed on.

xxXxx

Down on the ground the onlookers were waiting. The mood was one of suspense. Toshiko had moved over to Ianto and was now holding onto his hand and arm. Owen stood beside them.

"Breathe Tea-boy. Doctors orders." He told him. Ianto didn't acknowledge he had heard, but drew in a breath none the less. His gaze locked on the climbing Jack and on the nest above. He was pale and looked one bolt short of a DIY mess. Gwen was also looking up at Jack in suspense. 'If only he had let her keep the rifle' she thought.

Suddenly there was a loud shriek, followed by a yell from Jack. Myfanwy had moved in defence of her nest and the youngling in it. She dive-bombed toward Jacks precarious position and veered off at the last moment, avoiding contact with him. Gwen screamed and Owen also gave a frightened little yell, before he blushed and pretended it hadn't happened. No one seemed to have noticed anyway. They were all looking up at the scene. Ianto stood frozen to the spot. High above them Jack scrambled for a better hold of the rung he was on. He had lost his grip out of sheer fright. Myfanwy could move quickly and silently when she wanted to. He looked over his shoulder and saw her coming in for another attempt.

xxXxx

Myfanwy was beginning to get annoyed. Why was her human still there? She banked and flew back toward him.

"Go away, Human!" She yelled at him.

xxXxx

Jack nearly fell off again, when she shrieked at him and flew by so closely he could feel the wind generated by her wing movement. He clamped tighter and looked down for a moment. The people on the ground were freaking. All except his Ianto. He just stood there, looking up at Jack. 'Oh yeah, there will be hell to pay tonight. Well better get on with it.' He sighed resolutely and focused on climbing.

xxXxx

Now Myfanwy was getting angry. What was he? Stupid or something? There is no way she was going to let him get to her nest and the youngling. She banked again and went in for the catch.

xxXxx

Ianto watched in horror, as he saw Myfanwy glide around the Hub, elegantly swoop in and snatch his lover off the ladder. She flew round the Hub with him dangling, screaming, from her claws. She flew with him several times around the Hub in an ever decreasing spiral. A fully grown male human was a bit heavy for her to lift. She wasn't as fit as she had been, when she first arrived here. She used to hunt bigger prey back then than she did these days. She suddenly let go of Jack and he plummeted down.

Jack landed with a huge crash on the floor of the Hub. It was easy to tell that he was dead. Again. Something in Ianto snapped back into place and he found him self able to move and speak again. He looked up to see Myfanwy circling back up to her nest. He still couldn't see Orion. With a sigh he looked over at Jacks still body.

"Somebody get a bucket?" he said wryly and walked over to cradle the dead Jack in his arms once again.

xxXxx

Myfanwy was curled up in her nest but still keeping a wary eye on her humans below. Her little youngling visitor was sleeping soundly next to her. She could feel the gentle heat from its body and the soft moving as it breathed. 'It really is adorable,' she thought 'but it looks so weak.' She had a suspicion that it was anything but. She vividly recalled seeing it fight two of the humans, when it first changed into a winged creature. She had been astonished at the sight. It had been so long since she had last seen any of her own kind or any that resembled them – and to see a human change like that! None of her humans had ever done that. She wondered why that was. Didn't they want to go flying with her and experience the thrill of soaring through the air, riding the rising air currents and dive fast toward the ground and break away at the last moment? Her pulse beat faster just thinking of such a flight. 'Oh, to fly with a flock again… to not be forced to fly solo all the time' she sighed. The past was gone, but she still longed for the flock she had belonged to.

She was brought out of her pensive thoughts by her human, the nice one, shouting the name they had given her. Hesitantly she peered over the edge of the nest and down into the Hub. He was standing out in the middle of the floor and holding her food bucket up for her to see. He called again to her. This time she could make out the word "Food" as well, among the nonsense humans call a language.

She was tempted. Though she hunted food for herself, usually fish from the ocean or rodents and small pets, she appreciated the food he brought her. It was always very good and tasty. She didn't always feel like hunting anyway. 'Besides he might have some of that brown, sweet stuff.' She looked down with greater intensity. It was her greatest fallacy. They could do anything to her – even clean her nest – if they gave her that brown stuff. She started salivating at the mere thought of it. And sure enough; her human had put down the food bucket and was now holding up a bar of that sweet, brown stuff. He called for her again.

"Myfanwy, look what I have! Chocolate! You like chocolate. Come on down here and get it." Ianto was shouting up at her.

She swallowed and clicked her beak a few times. 'Mmm, brown stuff.' As she moved to get up, she heard a small mewling sound from beside her. 'The youngling!' she stayed put. There was no way she could leave it here alone. 'It could move in its sleep and fall out of the nest or something.' She looked at it fondly. If she could have smiled she would have. The youngling moved around a bit and she used her wing to pull it closer to her. It felt her body heat and snuggled in closely, making little content noises in its sleep. 'Nesting really is a two person job,' she thought 'one to mind the younglings and one to do the hunting.'

xxXxx

"Okay, any other ideas?" Jack asked the room in general. The team was gathered in a huddle by Tosh' and Gwen's workstations. He was in full leadership mode, standing with both hands on his hips, like an overgrown Peter Pan. Owen snorted inwardly. 'Peter Pan indeed. I'll bet that never-grow-up thing is a pretty good coping mechanism… considering what the man has to go through all the time and outliving everybody.' He glanced at Ianto. How that kid coped with being with their intrepid leader he had no idea!

Ianto was looking rather despondent. It was the first time Myfanwy had ever refused his offer of chocolate. Tosh was standing by him with her arm around his waist in unspoken support. Ianto looked up at the nest with worry and longing. Owen sighed. If only they could see what was going on up there. Then it clicked in his mind, like a light bulb turning on.

"Tosh," he all but screamed at her "The CCTV! You put a camera up there last year." She beamed at him, as she understood. The others perked up.

"What's going on?" Ianto asked. Gwen expressed a similar interest but didn't say anything.

"What camera? I didn't authorize a camera there." Jack looked at them in confusion.

"Actually, you did." Owen said quietly. Jack spun to look at him. "You signed the form yourself along with a bunch others. If you actually bothered to read them, you'd know that." Jack looked like he didn't know if he should be angry at the accusation or ashamed at being proven a slacker – at least at this part of his job. In the end he seemed to just let go of it and asked instead:

"Why did you put a camera up there?" Toshiko released Ianto and moved to her computer and began typing. It was Owen who answered.

"I wanted to document Myfanwy's behaviour in the nest. It's the only place where we could have a somewhat permanent view of her. Call it a pet project." He smirked. Ianto rolled his eyes and both Tosh and Jack smiled. Gwen had been keeping a low profile, but now she decided to partake.

"I don't understand. Why bother? It's not like you can ever share the findings with anybody. And there is never going to be another pterodactyl to apply the knowledge to."

"She's a pteradon and that was precisely why I did it. There will never be another chance to study them." Before Gwen could open her mouth to continue, Tosh said:

"I've got it." The screen in front of her showed a black and white live feed from above Myfanwy's nest. Ianto almost shoved Gwen in his hurry to get to the screen. Jack was right behind him followed by Owen. Gwen was hanging back, but grudgingly she moved so she could see the screen too. Moments later she was glad they all had their attention elsewhere or they would have seen her getting all sentimental and mushy.

The image they where watching was one of sheer cuteness. Myfanwy and Orion still in his dragon form were both sleeping curled up next to each other and Myfanwy's wing partly covered the smaller being like a blanket. Toshiko smiled warmly at the sight. But it was in fact Jack who expressed it best.

"Aaaawww." He threw his arm around his lover and together they watched their child and Myfanwy. Ianto sighed hugely, feeling a tension leave he hadn't' even been aware of having. Orion was safe and unharmed. He turned into Jack's embrace and to his own later embarrassment, began sobbing in relief. Jack held him, kissed his hair occasionally and whispered soothingly in his ear.

Gwen sneered at the scene. 'Honestly! Crying like a little girl. It's easy to see who the _man_ is in that relationship. Ianto is such a little woman! Cooking and cleaning and now crying all over the place! All he need is a skirt and to complain of headaches and stomach cramps! Don't know why Jack puts up with it.' She stomped off to the kitchen, mostly to get away from the sickening sight, but also to get some instant coffee. Ianto would have cow if he knew, she snickered to herself.

xxXxx

Things had settled into a resemblance of normalcy an hour later. Orion was still up in Myfanwy's nest. Toshiko had the live feed on display on one monitor, while working on another. Ianto and Jack were holed up in Jack's office, but the door was open, so it was properly safe to enter. Gwen was assisting Owen in the autopsy bay.

Suddenly there was an alarm from Gwen's computer. Pulling up the information on her own screen, Tosh immediately sprang into action. Reading at a furious pace, she abruptly stopped and mumbled.

"Well, that's weird." She called up Jack on the intercom. He responded immediately. "There's a report coming in from Grangetown, the waste recycling centre. They claim a huge rainbow coloured gorilla is rummaging through the bins." There was no answer, but moments later both Ianto and Jack stood in the door to the office.

"Care to repeat that?" Jack shouted down to her. In the autopsy bay Owen and Gwen looked up at them. Jack hurried down the stairs followed by Ianto.

xxXxx

Ten minutes later she was alone in the Hub with Myfanwy and Orion. The rest of the team was on route to the recycling centre. She checked the live feed. Myfanwy was now awake, but wasn't make a move; showing great care toward Orion, who was still sleeping. She went back to work. Bringing up a map off Grangetown, logged onto the system the police used and pulled up several police reports on the current situation in the recycling centre. She even found a report about an invisible wall in the middle of Sevenoaks Park. It was rather close by so maybe it was related. In Torchwood's experience invisible walls usually meant cloaked spaceships or some such. She relayed the information to the team.

xxXxx

The police had cordoned off the area and evacuated all people from the site. When they arrived they divided into to pairs. Owen was paired with Ianto, which left a delighted Gwen with Jack. Ianto rolled his eyes as he watched her wriggle semi-sexually down the path. He noticed how she would flick her long hair and touch Jacks arm a lot. 'She's laying it on pretty thick' he thought and noticed Owen snorting. They shared a look.

"Come on, Tea-boy." They headed off down the other path; guns ready and senses alert.

xxXxx

Jack groaned. He really needed to set her straight. It was one thing that they flirted in the safety of the Hub. It was quite another when she was too distracted on a mission. Besides these days his ego wasn't as needy any more. His relationship with Ianto seemed to take care of that. He felt a fulfilment he had never felt before. Not since his childhood. Not since he lost Gray and his father – and with them his innocence.

He heard a sound by one of the bins. He spun in that direction prompting Gwen back into mission-mode. But it was just a rat.

"We've found it." Owen's voice sounded over the comms minutes later. "Rainbow gorilla doesn't do it justice."


	7. Ch7 Rainbow coloured encounters

**Thanks again for all the interest in this story. Your reviews make me write more determinately. Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Ch. 7 Rainbow coloured alien encounters of the third kind

When Jack and Gwen arrived at Owen and Ianto's position they could easily understand the comment. Gwen's eyes became huge as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. It was a huge humanoid creature with very long shaggy fur that was literally every shade of the rainbow. Every strand of fur seemed to glow with its own fluorescent colour that kept changing with the movement of the creature. It had odd hornlike protrusions all over its body and it seemed oddly fat around the middle. Its head was reminiscent of a weevil but with large floppy ears on top and large purple eyes. 'God, that thing is hideous.' Gwen thought, as she watched it scurry around the bins. It had yet to notice them. It seemed to be looking for something in the container with metallic waste.

There was a sound coming from the creature that by now had half disappeared into the container. It triumphantly came back out with a piece of weird looking metal. 'That's not of Earth origin.' Jack noted, though he couldn't pinpoint what it was. Nor could he remember seeing an alien like that before. Said alien quickly acted upon seeing them. It threw the metal waste down and pulled out a weapon. Heaven knew where it had hidden it before. The team instantly pointed their own guns at the alien.

"Put the weapon down!" Jack said in both English and Standard. The alien hissed and said something incomprehensible back. It was not a familiar language. It was however quite clear that it would not surrender just like that.

"Get it to talk, Jack," Tosh said over the comms. "I'll feed the sound through the translation program on the computer. Hopefully it will be able to translate some of it."

"Okay Tosh. I'll try." He looked at the alien.

"Why are you here? What are you going to do with that piece of metal?" he put on his most-interested-listener's face in the hope the alien could interpret human facial expressions. But considering its own face was covered in fur it wasn't likely. He studied it. Its fur was by now flashing rapid colour changes, as if they were triggered by emotion or adrenalin.

It blabbered on in a still unintelligible language. Its voice was a very pleasant soprano and the language sounded quite musical. It seemed very incongruous to its physical appearance. It did sound a bit hostile and desperate though. Its weapon was pointed straight at them without any sign of trembling or faltering. It hissed at intervals throughout the speech.

Things happened very quickly next.

Jack was about to address the alien again, when there was a blurry motion at the corner of his eye. Then he heard the by now familiar sound of sniffles and hiccups. He kept one eye on the alien and tried to see the new arrival with the other. But it was Ianto's movement towards the newcomer that solidified the identity in his mind. Orion!

As Ianto made a move to grab his son, the alien freaked and shot in that direction. Time slowed down into slow-motion for Jack. He saw the blue bolt of energy shoot out of the gun and head straight for his family. With determination he flung his own body in its path, grabbing Ianto as it hit. They both went down with a crash right in front of Orion. The baby - now in human form - quivered his lower lip, hiccupped and began crying loudly. Owen rushed over and grabbed the child. Gwen had the alien covered, but it was making no moves toward them. In fact it had lowered its weapon halfway, though it kept a sharp eye on Gwen.

Ianto was lying on his stomach with Jacks dead body on top of him. He had not been hit by the energy bolt, but Jack had knocked the wind out of him. He could hear his son crying and he wanted nothing more than to get to him. His desire lent him the strength he needed to wrestle free from underneath Jack.

While Ianto was occupied, Owen did what he could to calm Orion. He held him close and rocked him up and down gently, shushing him. The alien, he noticed, was looking at him funnily - or rather at Orion. Just as Ianto gained his footing the alien moved closer. Gwen shouted for it to stop and threatened it with her gun. She was ignored. Owen stepped back. The alien was huge - at least 3 meters tall, muscular and with sharp looking teeth. He opened his mouth to plead irrationally for his and Orion's lives, when the alien stopped its progress and began singing.

It was the most beautiful song they had ever heard. The song had an otherworldly sound to it; a kind of song you would expect from mythological legends and movies about fairy tales. They could not understand the words, but that didn't matter.

Ianto scrambled over to Owen and took Orion from him. Orion was still crying, though it was not as strong now. Ianto hugged him tight and looked into the alien's eyes; they were smiling. Orion squirmed a little and Ianto loosened his grip, just enough for the baby to turn in his arms. Orion looked at the alien and snuggled his head under Ianto's chin. As the alien continued to sing Orion slowly calmed down. He pulled away from Ianto's chin again, looked at the alien and smiled sweetly.

"You nice lady. I like you. Babies okay?" he said. Though to the humans it sounded like that musical language the alien spoke. And that was exactly what it was, Tosh would later explain to them in detail. The baby had demonstrated the effectiveness of the innate ability that all Saluvian children have of absorbing information from others, including languages.

The alien looked understandably surprised. She had not expected anyone to understand her - least of all some stranger's offspring.

"My children are fine, Little One. How did you know about them?" her melodic voice chimed at him. She moved her hand to the top of her stomach and into the barely visible pouch-opening there. Orion scrunched his brows in speculation. It was difficult to explain, since he had yet to learn the words and the people around him didn't have the proper concepts for it in the first place. He had seen the energy that was their life-forces and their auras, as well as a heat signature that was higher around her stomach area - and when he had focussed on it, he saw three distinct blobs of concentrated heat. But how was he to explain it to her?

"Me saw them… heat, colour…" he frowned. She looked at him questioningly.

"You have thermal vision?"

"What's going on?" Jack's loud voice interrupted their little tête-à-tête. He had finally come back from the dead and was now approaching them. Gwen and Owen were hanging back a little, uncertain how to handle the situation. Gwen still had her gun pointed at the alien, though she seemed to have forgotten about it. Owen was just quietly observing the goings-on. Ianto looked at Jack with a sense of relief. The situation was just getting stranger by the moment and he felt better knowing that Jack would be there.

"Orion's speaking with the alien in its own language. I should have enough for a translation soon." Toshiko said over the comms. Jack put his arm around Ianto's waist and looked at the alien with a half smile. He didn't take his eyes away from it as he bent down and planted a kiss on Orion's head. The alien was looking at him in shock – probably at seeing him alive and unharmed.

"What's Orion doing here?" he asked them all in general. The alien didn't seem threatening now, but he still kept an eye on it.

"Me had a bad dweam, Daddy." Orion said, looking very sad again. Ianto looked at Jack.

"I think we need to set up some rules regarding teleportation." He said. Jack nodded.

"But nice lady sing to me. Make me all better." Orion beamed at them and at the alien.

"Nice lady?" Orion bobbed his head up and down in an exaggerated affirmation and pointed at the alien. She was looking from one to the other curiously. It didn't take a Martori-fusion engineer to understand that they were talking about her.

"She has babies too, Tad." He said to Ianto, thinking he would like to know that. "Three babies." He held up three fingers.

"You can talk to her?" Jack asked. If they could talk to her, then maybe they could still sort this thing out. Toshiko's translator was anything but reliable. Ianto gave him a warning glance which Jack ignored. Orion nodded.

"Would you ask her name and why she is here?" he carefully asked. Ianto frowned disapprovingly, but Jack figured that he was already so much in the doghouse that one more transgression didn't matter.

"Okay Daddy." He looked at the alien woman. "Me is called Orion," he said to her. She smiled at him as she looked down at them. "You?"

"My name is Kali-ra, Little one. Are these your parents?" she asked softly. Orion nodded.

"Yes, Tad is holding me, but Daddy call him Ianto, and that's Daddy, but Tad calls him Jack." He twisted a little so he could point at the others. "And that's Gwen and Mean Man, but Daddy says me not call him dat and call him Owen. And Tos-iko and Myfanwy at home." He struggled to say the dinosaur's name, but it was important for him to point out the missing members of his family. Kali-ra chuckled at his breathless introduction.

The humans had caught the gist of the introduction upon hearing their names and familial titles. But they didn't understand what the alien had said. But it was a good sign that the alien woman was laughing. Wasn't it? Jack thought so as he stroked Orion's soft hair with one hand. Orion looked at him and seemed to remember the other part of the question.

"Daddy wants to know why you here?" he said to her. She stopped chuckling and looked sad. She sighed with a look of defeat.

"My ship is broken. I need to fix it, so I can go home to my mate. I thought I could find some usable metal alloys here." She indicated the bins and containers. Orion looked thoughtful before he broke into a grin. Beaming at her he said:

"Maybe Tos-iko can help? She good with 'puters and masines… mash… machines." He looked so proud at having gotten the word right, they all smiled at him. Even the humans who couldn't understand the conversation had sensed his struggle to pronounce the word and his sense of accomplishment was radiating off him like sunshine from the sun.

"What about me?" Toshiko asked over the comms having heard her name.

"We don't know yet. They're still talking." Gwen answered her quietly. Orion heard her though having better than human hearing. He looked at his Tad and Daddy and proceeded to tell them what had been said so far. Jack glanced respectfully at Kali-ra and moved Ianto, Orion and himself over to Gwen and Owen. Kali-ra kept a watchful eye on them but went back to searching for usable materials.

"Opinions! Options!" Jack demanded when they were out of earshot. Gwen, Owen and Jack were all keeping an eye on Kali-ra, while Ianto was seeing to Orion. The boy was getting heavy and he shifted him onto his other arm. It the kid kept growing at the same rate then he would be too heavy to lug around like this by Christmas.

"She seems friendly enough. If it is her ship as Tosh suspects that's cloaked at Sevenoaks Park, then let's help her and send her on her way." Ianto stated. Owen nodded.

"I'm with Tea-boy, Boss. There's no point locking her up. She didn't come through the Rift; she has the means and the will to leave. So let's help her." Gwen nodded in agreement.

"What about you, Tosh?" There was no reply. "Tosh? Toshiko?" Then they heard a crash and Tosh's scream.

"Myfanwy no!"


	8. Ch8 Do not mess with angry mothers

**Thanks again for your interest in this story. Your reviews make me smile each time. Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Ch. 8 Do not mess with angry mothers

When Owen and Jack arrived, the Hub was a big mess. It looked like a tornado had been let loose inside. One workstation was upturned and papers and other debris littered the place. A light flickered on and off making the sight seem a bit eerie. Jack scanned the room, but he could see neither Toshiko nor Myfanwy. Suddenly Owen pushed past him and rushed into the Hub proper. He clambered over the upturned workstation and flung an office chair out of the way. Jack joined him and saw Toshiko lying on the floor. Owen was checking her vital signs.

"Is she..?" Jack asked with fear in his voice. His beautiful little Toshiko. She looked so frail. Blood was marring her features. She had a large gash on her temple right up by the hairline.

"Unconscious. Took a knock on the head. She'll need a few stitches and needs to be watched to rule out a concussion, but other than that she's fine." Owen said. He hid his concern behind an air of professionalism. He _was_ a doctor, and this was his patient. The fact that the patient was becoming rather dear to him was something he could not recognise right now. Jack put his hand on Owen's shoulder for a moment. Just long enough for them to make eye contact. Jack nodded at the unspoken sympathy between them. Jack carefully picked Toshiko up bridal style, while Owen cleared a passage to the autopsy bay.

While Owen was busy with Toshiko in the autopsy bay Jack went around the Hub, surveying the damage. It wasn't too bad. The only things broken were the computer screens on the upturned workstation and some coffee mugs. The rest was just a mess that could be tidied. 'Glad Ianto's not here. Don't know how much more the man can take for one day.' Jack thought to himself, as he grabbed some of the papers as a token clean-up. They had left Ianto, Orion and Gwen back at the recycling centre with the alien Kali-ra. Jack started chuckling as he thought of the events of the day. It was amazing how things could turn out sometimes. He laughed outright when he remembered the little Orion talking to the giant Kali-ra and Orion telling Ianto three babies as if that was the most important thing at that time. 'Kids, they say the darndest things'. He laughed again.

Then he heard a familiar screech up above.

"Human!" Myfanwy was furious as well as beside herself with worry. She dove into an almost vertical dive aiming straight for her human. He was responsible, she knew it. He had tried climbing up into the nest to take the youngling and now the youngling was gone. He's taken it.'

"The youngling. Where have you taken it?" she screeched furiously. Jack threw him self down on the ground as she swerved up again, narrowly missing the floor - and Jack. She flew upwards a little before braking and let her body fall down in a controlled, but hard landing. She glared fiercely at him.

"Where is the youngling?" she hissed menacingly. Jack's eyes were wide as he looked at her. He had never seen her look this pissed. He scrambled back putting more distance between them until his back struck the legs of Gwen's workstation. Myfanwy moved in closer. Her body language was oozing predatory anger. Soon they were face to face, Myfanwy growling at him. Jack swallowed hard. Death by pteradon didn't seem very appealing.

Suddenly a shot sounded. Its echo reverberating around the Hub, making it last longer. Myfanwy spun her head furiously in the direction of the autopsy bay. Jack didn't dare take his eyes of her, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Owen with his gun still pointed in the air. Toshiko – who was now awake - was lying on the table propped up on one elbow and craning her neck to see the goings on. Myfanwy hissed angrily and moved toward Owen.

"Myfanwy stop!" Owen told her in his most firm, commanding voice. She kept coming. His eyes widened.

"Stop, Myfanwy! Stop, you overgrown prehistoric chicken. Stop damn it!" he yelled at her, his panic increasing with each step she took. His gun was now pointed at her, but he really didn't want to shoot her. Toshiko screamed. Jack was yelling by now as well, trying to distract the animal.

Suddenly Ianto was screaming frantically in his ear as well over the comms. Before he had a chance to make sense of any of it a very familiar figure appeared to the side. Orion!

"Myfanwy! No!" Orion yelled at her, with his high pitched child's voice. Myfanwy responded instantly. She halted, spun around and a look of utter relief and joy appeared on her face – her entire body radiated her pleasure at seeing the child again. That didn't last though, as Orion continued to yell at her. "Myfanwy bad! Very bad!" he frowned at her. She cocked her head. Her youngling was upset. 'Why?' she didn't understand. He flung out his arm encompassing the Hub.

"Look what you did! You made a big mess." He pointed at Toshiko. "And you hurt Tos-iko! Bad Myfanwy!" She looked around. She _had_ really trashed the place and one of her humans had been hurt. The humans all smelled of fear and the youngling smelled really angry. She hung her head in shame. She had overreacted and behaved really badly, she realised that now. She whimpered. The youngling – _her_ youngling - was mad at her and now her humans would be too and she would not be fed any more of the sweet, brown stuff or…" she started keening in sadness. Orion looked at her. Taking pity on her he walked over to her, still a bit unsteadily and put his arms around as much of her as he could reach.

"Don't cry. Me right here." Myfanwy gently rubbed her beak against his back. "We clean up. Tad not see."

'He's right,' Jack thought 'if Ianto sees this mess he's gonna go ballistic. Myfanwy will be punished for months for this.' He got up, keeping a wary eye on the dinosaur. She looked carefully at him and hung her head in shame again. Almost like a puppy that had been caught at mischief and were awaiting the rolled up newspaper.

"If only I had a newspaper big enough." He mumbled as he glared at her. She hung her head even lower and keened again. Orion looked over his shoulder at his Daddy and softly stroked down Myfanwy's side with one hand.

"Are you guys okay?" Jack called toward the autopsy bay. He heard their affirmatives and nodded to himself. Still observing his son and their cumbersome pet pteradon – making said pteradon squirm under his gaze – he touched his comm. Ianto answered immediately and Jack soon found himself quite busy calming his young man down.

xxXxx

A few days later they waved goodbye to Kali-ra, after having helped her repair her ship. She had turned out to be quite remarkably good company, once they got Toshiko's translating computer up and talking. Speaking through Orion had become rather bothersome, as he a) didn't know all the words, b) wasn't mature enough for some of the topics discussed and c) he needed to be put down for naps regularly or he would simply fall asleep mid sentence.

Myfanwy was keeping a low profile and staying well out of everybody's way. Only Orion went up to see her. Toshiko had set up a monitor dedicated to the CCTV of her nest that was never switched off. It became common practice to always check the nest before panicking over the young child's whereabouts. Even though the nest was becoming a bit filthy Ianto refused to go up to clean it. He still hadn't forgiven her for all the trouble she had caused.

xxXxx

Rhiannon Davies was strolling through the park pushing the blue stroller in front of her. 'It was a nice day for it' she thought as she watched the children run off down the path toward the playground. It was the middle of December. All the shop windows were crammed with Father Christmas's and glittering decorations. 'It's enough to put one off Christmas for good, it is.' She smiled 'cept when you have kids.' It never seized to amaze her how much joy her kids took in the holiday. 'It'll be fun to see how young Orion takes to it' she looked at the kids chasing after each other. David the oldest would be too old to want to go to the park in a few short years. He was running in front of Mica, just keeping out of her reach. Mica was laughing joyfully at the thrill of the chase. She made a grab for her brother, but he got away. Instead she turned at the younger Orion, who swerved quickly and only just managed to escape. They laughed.

'Six years old and she's already chasing after the boys' Rhiannon laughed at her joke. She could just hear Jacks voice saying something like that. She smiled. Her brother sure knew how to keep surprising her. First by announcing he was dating a bloke, second by springing Torchwood on them – granted the circumstances where awful, that whole alien invasion thing - and then he had a kid! She had only just reconciled her self to the fact that he would never have kids – at least none of his own – and then he comes and tells her that not only does he have a kid of his own, but it's Jack's too! And it's part alien as well. She'd actually fainted at that part. She had woken up to hear Johnny yelling at Ianto and Jack for it.

She smiled fondly. It hadn't been too fun at the time but now she could appreciate the humour of the situation. Too bad she couldn't share it with the girls. But then again most of the stuff they talked about was sex, childrearing, dead beat husbands and the lives of the rich and famous. To think she had once been as featherbrained as them. She snorted and shook her head at her self. She might still have been if it hadn't been for Jack and Ianto.

Johnny had lost his job a while back and the job he found instead didn't pay as much and with her staying at home with the kids… well, money had been tight. She and Johnny had fought a lot. She'd talked about it with Ianto when he confronted her about it. Next day he and Jack came over and Jack offered her a job tending to the tourist office part time while the kids were at school. The pay was good too. The only condition was that she never asked questions regarding Torchwood business and she wasn't allowed down in their base. She had no problem with that. The less she knew the better, in her mind. It also meant she got to see a lot more of her brother. They had become closer as a result.

It had been her idea to babysit Orion during the day, after all there weren't all that much to do in the tourist office. She had seen how busy they had been and how they often rushed in and out of the door. Sometimes one or more of them would be injured. Most often Jack, she had noticed. That man seemed awfully accident prone, as he often came in with blood on his coat. Though she had yet to see any injuries on him 'hmm'

"Mummy, look at me, mummy!" her daughter yelled. The girl was bundled up in warm winter clothes from foot to toe only her pretty little face was showing. She was at the top of the slide waving energetically.

"I see you!" Rhiannon yelled back with a smile. Mica pushed off and slid down with a laugh. Orion was next. He looked like a 2½ year old now, but in reality she knew he was much younger – at least in term of time having passed since his birth. Ianto and Jack were having serious trouble keeping up with the rapid changes. Ianto had been out buying new, larger clothes every week until Rhiannon told him to come and collect all of David's old clothes instead. That way he didn't have to shop again until Orion surpassed David in size… which would probably be sometime in the spring.

She looked at the kids. David was on the swing, laughingly competing with another boy to see which of them could swing the highest. Mica was now chatting in the sandbox with a girl in a pink snowsuit holding a doll. Orion was no where to be seen. She looked around for him. When she still didn't see him she walked over to Mica and asked if the girl had seen him. She hadn't. Rhiannon could feel the first flickers of nervousness now, but she had been warned of the child's tendency to teleport. She pulled out her phone and called the Hub. Jack had warned her not to call them directly in case they were on a mission. They had set up a line to the Hub with standing orders for the person remaining there to pick up the call.

"Toshiko speaking." The soft voice of the petite Asian woman sounded over the connection.

"Hey Toshiko, its Rhiannon," she suspected that the woman already knew that, but it was an old habit to brake, when one had grown up without caller id. "I'm in the park with the kids and I can't see Orion anywhere." Before she could continue, she could hear the clicking of computer keys being pressed and the woman muttered:

"That kid needs to be permanently equipped with a tracking device… "More loudly she said "He's not in the nest (Ianto had explained to her about Myfanwy acting like a pseudo mum/pet)… and he's not around the Hub, at least not that I can see. Hang on, I'll ask the others." The line was put on hold and a calming piece of classical music sounded. Rhiannon tapped her foot impatiently and looked around the playground. Still no change.

The music stopped after a while and Toshiko's gentle voice came back.

"He's not here. He's not with Jack or Ianto either. I couldn't get a hold of Gwen. It's her day off. Besides I don't think Orion would seek her out." Rhiannon didn't miss the slight emphasis on the word _her_. The bad feelings had become evident the very first time she'd seen Gwen walk through the door. She'd scowled at the boy – and he'd stuck out his tongue at her. In fact, Rhiannon didn't like her all that much either. She was a stuck up, condescending bitch and Rhiannon had not missed the looks she sent after Jack either. Ianto was right to be suspicious of the bitch. She breathed in and out calming her self down. Getting angry at the infuriating woman now wouldn't help anything and it wouldn't do for her to take it out on Toshiko neither. She sighed.

"No, I don't think so either. But where could he be?" she sighed again. "Guess I had better go around and look for him. I'll let you know when I find him." 'If he's still in the park.' She added silently.

"Do that – and let us know if you need any help."

"I will." She hung up and looked around. Mica was the closest so she went to gather her first. The children protested when she pulled them away from their fun.

"But mum, he's always disappearing." David whined at her. "He's probably back home now or something." She scolded him mildly. The kid was right. Orion _did_ have a habit of disappearing, but that didn't mean he couldn't be taken away against his will or he could get hurt somewhere. He didn't have the same experience that her own kids had. In fact he always seemed surprised when told he could have gotten hurt. Like he didn't believe them or didn't think it mattered. 'Just like Jack' she dragged her son along after her while pushing the empty stroller in front of her. Mica was holding on to the side of it. The girl was not happy about being pulled away from her game, but she knew her mother wouldn't let her stay by herself so she trotted along like a good girl.

"I know, why don't we make it a game?" Rhiannon said to her son. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Me and Mica, against you. See which of us can find Orion first." David looked up at her intrigued.

"All right." He accepted. She knew her son could never back down from a challenge. He was like Johnny that way. She hoped he wouldn't get into as many fights as his dad when he got older.

"Hey that's not fair. I wanna go look by myself too." Mica piped up.

"No, I need your help. I can't look the same places you kids can." She told her and faked at being an old granny trying to grab her. Mica squirmed away laughing.

"I'll go look over that way, mum." David pointed off to one side of the path overlooking a large lawn and crops of trees and bushes.

"Okay, but stay so I can see or hear you. I don't want you getting lost as well." He rolled his eyes at her and she was instantly reminded of both Ianto and Orion. She couldn't decide whether it was a movement that ran in the family or that the kids were just copying Ianto.

"Okay mum." And he took off. Rhiannon looked after him sighing "They grow up so fast." She felt a tug on her sleeve and looked down at her daughter.

"Come on mum, we have to find Orion before David wins."

xxXxx

They searched for a while. She could hear David calling out Orion's name at intervals. It calmed her to know that he was safe and actually looking for his cousin.

"Orion?" she heard Mica ask. She turned to see the little girl crouching down at the foot of a large tree apparently addressing a squirrel. Said animal squeaked and ran up a neighbouring tree.

"What are you doing?" she asked. The little girl looked up at her. Her purple snowsuit bulking up her otherwise slight form.

"Orion can become an animal." She shrugged, as if that kind of thing was an everyday occurrence. But then again it was. At least when one was around Orion. He would often change into various different animals on demand when the kids were playing. In fact she just realised:

"He can't change into an animal of a too different size. He always changes into an animal of a similar size. Remember the elephant?" Mica laughed gleefully. That had been fun. He had been the littlest elephant she had ever seen and the elephants they had at the zoo were huge. Even the baby ones.

Suddenly they heard a dog barking. Joined swiftly by David's laughter.

"Stop it, Orion." She heard him squeal. She and Mica looked at each other.

"Oh man." Mica kicked a pebble in chagrin.

When they went to join them, they were met by a strange sight. David was rolling around on the grass with a small dog jumping all over him, playfully trying to lick his face. The dog looked like a golden retriever puppy.

"Orion?" she asked. The puppy looked at her and then bounded over to her. It jumped up at her leg, getting its wet paws on her clean pants and then bounded on to give Mica a similar treatment it had given her brother. She let the antics continue for a few moments then told him to change back into his human form again.

He looked up at her with shining eyes and Jack's trademark smile. She felt her resolve diminish. But then she scolded her self, the child needs to be told off.

"Don't you ever do something like this again! Do you know how long we've been looking for you?" his eyes became huge and his smile disappeared. "What have I told you about running off?" she shouted "And changing form in public" she hissed more quietly so no outsiders could hear. He gulped and looked a bit shameful, though not enough for her liking.

"You've told me not to." He pouted and bowed his head, glancing up at her. He reminded her so much of Ianto when he had been a kid. The same look, the same stance.

"Yet you did it anyway." She wasn't letting him off the hook. It didn't work for Ianto and it would not work for his son either.

"Yes," he answered with a timid voice. Mica came over and held his hand. He glanced at her and sent her a little smile.

"Why?" she kept her voice stern. Orion gulped.

"Because of the mice." 'The what now?' of all the things he could have said, she hadn't expected something like that. It threw her off completely.

"The what?"

"The mice," he said and looked up at her. A small smile creeping on to his face. "There were two of them and they were arguing about something and I wanted to know what it was."

"What was it?" Mica asked curiously. Again astonishing her mother with the child's ability to just accept the most ridiculous things from her cousin. Orion looked at her and grinned.

"They were looking for food and one of them had found a piece of sausage by the trashcan. They were arguing over it and being very _rude_ about it too." He winked at her. She giggled. They had been practicing bad words in secret when they thought Rhiannon couldn't hear them.

They went back to the playground. It was deserted by now, so the children played amongst them selves while Rhiannon watched.

Orion and Mica were building a sandcastle in the sandbox, when David came over to them. He was looking down the path winding through the park.

"Isn't that your dad?" he said to Orion. The two children turned and looked searchingly. Orion lit up and a bright smile appeared.

"It is!" he proclaimed.

"Why is he running?" Mica wondered. The man in question was pelting across a grass lawn cutting the corner of the path. In front of him a hooded figure was running at great speed, trying to get away.

"He's chasing that man." David told her, with an air of superiority. He was older than them; therefore he knew a lot more. Besides anybody who had eyes could see he was trying to catch the other man. He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. His sister asked such obvious questions sometimes.

"It's not a man. It's a fish." Orion told him, with an equal air of knowing-it-all. He even rolled his eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous! Fish don't look like people! And they don't live out of the water!" David told him angrily. Mica was staring at the running figure with huge eyes. They looked about ready to pop out of her head.

"It is a fish! Look David! It is!" she started yelling and pointed excitedly towards the figure. It was running in their direction along the path and Jack was not far behind it. It's face looked like a red tropical fish, but it's body appeared human. It was a most odd sight.

It was pelting down the path straight towards Rhiannon, who stood in the middle of the path, looking at a text on her mobile. When she heard the rapid footsteps on the gravel she looked up. Her eyes widened as her brain registered the oddity of an alien in a park at broad daylight. Then instinct kicked in and she grabbed the stroller and swung it at the alien. It went down and knocked it's head on the leg of a bench nearby. Jack came running up, his greatcoat flapping behind him. He gave her an impressed look and went to secure the alien with handcuffs. The kids came running over.

"Wow mum! That was amazing!" David yelled. Mica was nodding with emphasis, looking hugely impressed. Orion was beaming at his aunt and his dad.

"Yeah." He turned. "Hi daddy." He said. Jack looked at Orion and the kids with a look of concern. He wasn't comfortable with having them around the alien. He still remembered the scolding Ianto had given him for bringing Orion on the weevil hunt, when he was a baby. But it couldn't be helped. They were here and so was the alien. He would have to give Rhiannon some mild Retcon to give to Mica and David. He broke into his trademark smile.

"Hi kiddo, hi David, Mica."

"Why were you chasing that… fish, Uncle Jack?" Mica asked him. He smiled at the title and looked down at the alien whose back he was straddling. It was beginning to struggle.

"Oh, it's not supposed to be here, so I had to catch it to make it go home." He said with a shrug. The alien snarled something angrily at him and the kids. "Hey, behave. There are kids present." He told it. The alien spat out a word. Obviously a swear of some kind.

"Hey! That's rude." Orion said disgustedly.

"Maybe we should get out of here." Jack looked pointedly at Rhiannon. Taking the hint she looked at the kids.

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. It's time we left anyway. I promised the kids a cup of hot chocolate at the café." The kids all perked up at hearing that. It was a cold day and hot chocolate would warm them quite nicely.

"But mum, how is Orion going to be going? You've killed the stroller." David asked reasonably. Said stroller was indeed all banged up and bent out of shape. One wheel was dangling loosely; it wouldn't take much for it to fall off completely. She looked from Orion to the stroller and back. Sighing she said:

"Well, you'll have to walk, Orion. You were getting too big for the stroller anyway." They set off, waving to Jack as they left.

Needless to say, by the time they were halfway to the café, she ended up carrying the half sleeping Orion the rest of the way.

**Hmm, I'm not entirely happy with cutting the part with Kali-ra, but I couldn't get it to work. Sometimes you have to kill your darlings. Maybe she will make a return visit sometime…**


	9. Ch9 Rubber gloves and telephones

**Thank you for the interest in this story. I love your reviews. Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

**Oh BTW, this chapter starts with a bit of a make-out session between the boys. I cut it before it becomes too graphic in keeping with the T-rating, but if you want to, you can skip down to the first line breaker.**

Ch. 9 Rubber gloves and telephones

Ianto was in the kitchen washing up while waiting for the coffee to get ready. It was the last Sunday before Christmas and the rest of the team had the day of. The rift predictor claimed it would be a quiet day, so they had decided to take it easy. Jack had volunteered to fetch breakfast and should be back any moment. Ianto smiled at the thought of his lover. The man was impossible. One moment he was infuriating him and the next he would go and do something wonderful. It made for an interesting life that was for sure.

He heard the door to the Hub open and Jack's voice echoing.

"Honey, I'm home." Ianto was briefly reminded of Fred Flintstone and had to chuckle at the thought of Myfanwy throwing Jack outside for the night. 'Oh, wait, that was a sabre-toothed tiger that did that, not a dinosaur.'

"Out here." He called back and finished up. Jack came in, leaned in the doorway and leered at him, as he saw him pulling the yellow rubber gloves off. Ianto waited for the joke he knew would come.

"Love the smell of rubber in the morning." Jack winked. Ianto rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"That was corny, even for you."

"I think you mean horny." He said and moved in close. He put his freezing cold hands on Ianto's sides and moved one of them below his shirt. Ianto squealed.

"You're cold!" he felt like such a girl sometimes.

"I know. Why don't you warm me up?" Jack kissed him, making it impossible for Ianto to remember to protest. Ianto moaned softly into his mouth as Jack moved one hand down to grope his arse. Their kissed deepened, becoming more passionate. Ianto flung his arms around Jack; soon he was grabbing, groping, holding.

"Ngh… Jack" he breathed. Jack smiled and intensified his actions. Soon the young Welshman would be putty in his hands. He moved to kiss, bite and lick the young man's neck, jaw and every other available patch of skin. He heard his name uttered again in a moan followed by something unintelligible presumably in Welsh. He licked up the edge of his lover's ear and whispered sensuously, making sure to blow his breath into Ianto's ear:

"Where's Junior?" Ianto shivered. His need growing obvious against Jack's thigh. They were both panting.

"Nest… sleep…ngh... aaah." was the stammered response. Jack smiled wickedly and continued.

xxXxx

Orion stirred slowly, not wanting to wake just yet. He could feel the comforting presence of Myfanwy behind him and her wing covering him like a blanket. He loved sleeping in her nest and cuddling up next to her. He stretched his arms over his head and yawned. Myfanwy shifted slightly but remained asleep. He reached out his awareness toward her, gently touching her dream. She dreamt of soaring through the sky; scattering a flock of seabird and laughing at them. He carefully moved out of her dream, so as not to wake her.

Then he turned his attention to the other members of his family. He traced the links to each of them; following the tiny thread of telepathic connection to first Toshiko, whom he found reading a book at home. Then he moved on to Owen asleep in his bed, alone for once. Reluctantly he searched out Gwen as well. He didn't have much of a connection with her. It was just a sense of her whereabouts and general status. She was home and seemed fine. That being settled, he then found Rhiannon, Mica, David and Johnny. They were having a pillow fight in Rhiannon and Johnny's bedroom. That made him smile.

The strongest links were with his parents. His feelings for them were the strongest and they were also the closest in terms of distance. They were in fact below him in the kitchen. His Tad was standing by the kitchen counter, facing his Daddy, who was… Oh! Orion gasped and had his eyes been open they would have been huge. His Daddy had his Tad's!… in his mouth! Gross! But they both seemed to like it. Very much so.

Orion shifted his awareness, so he instead could see the energy and the colours they were sporting. It took his breath away. It was a dazzling light show; their colours intermingling, pulsating and flowing all around them. Reds, pinks, gold, oranges, whites and blues. Like a beautiful, mesmerising fire. They were colours he had come to associate with feelings of love, passion and lust. A paler version was always flowing around and between his parents whenever he looked at them. Even when they argued or when Tad scolded Daddy for dying again. Though there had been other, darker colours mixed in then. No matter how far apart they were they always had a sort of ribbon of colours between them. Orion recognized it for what it was; a bond between mates.

He looked at his own bond. It wasn't nearly as developed. In fact the only thing it told him, was that a) he had a mate b) that said mate was alive c) that the mate was safe and finally d) the relative distance and direction said mate was at in relation to him self. It did not tell him anything about his mate, like the gender or the name or their likes and dislikes. He sighed. Someday he'd go to his mate and find out.

He stretched his awareness out again and observed the city. It was buzzing with life; teeming with it. He could see the myriad of colours and energy signatures. Some of them grouped together in areas with flats and houses. Others moving about in strange isolated areas where one wouldn't expect to find people. Like on top of tall building or below ground. It had taken him some time and practise to distinguish between people's signatures and animal ones. Sure some of the animals were small, but a large dog didn't look all that different from a small human, when it came to energy signatures.

He once again stretched his awareness further out. He wanted to someday be able to see the whole world like that. But for now he was stuck with observing Cardiff - and if he pushed himself, maybe a bit of the surrounding areas. He was disturbed from his practise session by the sound of a telephone ringing. He reeled in his mind and focused briefly on his parents. They paid it no notice. It rang again. He stretched and teleported to his Daddy's office.

The phone was on the desk, next to a stack of papers, files, a Sudoku puzzle, an Ariltorian pasta maker, a Glock G21 automatic pistol and a ball made from rubber bands. Orion climbed up on his daddy's chair with difficulty and rolled his eyes at the clutter. Knowing his Tad his Daddy would be in trouble. Especially leaving a weapon out in the open like that. Even Orion could see how irresponsible his Daddy could be at times. He bypassed the weapon and answered the phone.

"Hello? Orion speaking." There was a hesitation on the other end of the line.

"Ehm, hello… to whom am I speaking?" an elderly, prim lady's voice asked uncertainly. Orion rolled his eyes, the way he had seen his Tad do so many times.

"I'm Orion. I just told you that. Who are you?"

"Hmph, there is no need to be rude, child. Where is Captain Harkness? This is _his_ number and I always speak to him or Mr. Jones_._" She sounded rather miffed now. Orion stared at the phone for a moment incredulously.

"Uhm, he's… they're…" Orion didn't really know what to tell her.

"Well, speak up, child. I do not have all day." Orion blushed. Well, Tad and Daddy had told him to always speak the truth. Hadn't they? Well, except about him being part alien and about Torchwood and all. He swallowed hard.

"Daddy's in the kitchen licking Tad's willy."

xxXxx

In Scotland, somewhere in Balmoral Castle, an elderly woman spluttered and sprayed her tea most improperly out over her coffee table.

xxXxx

When Jack and Ianto finally emerged from the kitchen some time later, they noticed the lights being on in Jack's office. They looked at each other and headed up there. What they found was Orion sitting cross legged in his _Bob the builder_ sleepwear in Jack's classic revolving chair, holding Jack's phone to his ear and having a seemingly very earnest conversation about the merits of traditional building blocks to modern computer games. Orion looked at them and smiled the Harkness-trademark-smile, but continued with his conversation. Jack hadn't even known the kid knew how to use a phone.

"Who are you speaking to?" Ianto half mouthed, half whispered to the child.

"Oh, hang on. Daddy and Tad are here now… sure…" he fiddled with the phone. "Go ahead, you're on speaker phone now." He leaned back in his chair and watched his parents. They were looking quizzically at him and at the phone.

"Hello Captain Harkness, Mr. Jones." They both paled as they recognized the voice. "I'm sure I don't need to introduce myself?" They both mumbled:

"No ma'am." Ianto looked like he was about to stand to attention and salute.

"Your Majesty, what…" Jack began.

"Oh, zip it, Jack!" she interrupted. He closed his mouth with an audible click of his teeth. He had only just gotten her to talk to him again and now there was no telling how she would react. Calling Torchwood and getting a small child on the line instead was _not_ at good thing.

"I called this number to talk to you, Captain, but instead I was informed by a child that you were most decidedly… _busy_." 'Holy fuck, she knows.' Ianto's face turned crimson in three seconds flat. Even Jack felt his ears heat up, though he wasn't normally one to become embarrassed. He looked at his son. The imp had the audacity to sit there, red-faced, with his hand across his mouth trying his best to hold in the laughter.

"Then imagine my surprise, when said child informed me, that he is the son of your self and Mr. Jones, your employee."

Jack made to argue, but before he could do more than open his mouth, the queen continued.

"Now, I have not spoken against your workplace-relationship. On the contrary, I have encouraged it. Having said that, I must confess myself to be _greatly_ disappointed in you, Captain, and you, Mr. Jones." By this time Ianto looked miserable (he really did like the grandmotherly woman and didn't want her to be upset with them) and Jack seemed torn between shame and rebellion.

"How come none of you have thought to inform me of your parental status?" both Ianto and Jack jerked their heads up and locked eyes, in surprise. "Do I mean so little to you?" she was not above laying some guilt on them. Ianto opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"I mean, think of all the time I've missed. I could have had many more interesting chats with the delightful child." They heard the chime of a clock in the background. The woman sighed.

"Oh, how sad. I must be off. I have a meeting in ten minutes. Orion dear?"

"Yes ma'am?" he sat up a little straighter.

"You have your self a nice Christmas now, you hear? Don't spend too much time playing on the computers. Remember to also play real games."

"Okay." He told her.

"Mr. Jones, Captain? A merry Christmas to you too." She said with a smile in her voice.

"And to you, ma'am." The line died. Orion put the phone down and smiled radiantly at them.

"So, what's for breakfast?"

**Hmm, not my finest work, I know. But I have something special in store for you next week.**


	10. Ch10 Christmas miracles

**Ok ok (holds up hands in surrender), I stand corrected. The last chapter was not as shoddy as I assumed. So thank you so much for your support and your delightful reviews. I hope you like this chapter and I apologize in advance for trying to rhyme in a foreign language ;-) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Chapter 10. Christmas Miracles

It was the day before Christmas Eve. The hardened Torchwood operatives were all gathered on the main floor of the Hub, sitting around the coffee table. They had had a nice Christmassy dinner courtesy of Mrs. Fontescue's restaurant (they did deliveries) and had now moved on to coffee and sipping wine.

It was their first annual almost-Christmas-Eve party, though party was a bit of an overstatement, considering they had a small child with them. Said child was currently dresses in his _Bob the builder_ sleepwear complete with a warm robe and slippers. He was sitting between his parents on the couch, holding a big steaming cup of hot chocolate with a huge clump of whipped cream.

Owen and Toshiko were talking softly together, sitting close but not touching. Gwen was sitting by herself at the end of the table with her back to the workstations. She was feeling a bit left out. 'This wasn't how it was supposed to be' she thought. She looked at Owen and Toshiko. They seemed so wrapped up in each other. As if they were lovers already. She suspected that it wouldn't be long before they actually would be a couple. Her own brief fling with Owen had ended amiably enough. They had after all just been using each other and they both knew that from the start. If those two could find happiness in each other, then she was happy for them. She turned to look at Jack next.

The sight somehow caught her unprepared. It was silly, really. She knew what she would see and yet it still surprised her. Jack – _her_ Jack – was sitting on the couch with his back half turned away from her. His left arm slung across the back of the couch, his hand fondling the back of Ianto's neck and messing his hair up. He was gazing at the young man, smiling softly at him. Ianto was looking lovingly down at the child sitting between them. If Ianto had been a woman they would have looked like a model photograph for a magazine spouting family bliss. All that was lacking were the roaring fire in the fireplace and Christmas stockings and decorations.

She swallowed hard. She had to get out of there. She jumped to her feet a little quickly, though no one seemed to notice. No one except Myfanwy, who was curled up on the floor opposite her a little bit away but still close enough to be included in the festivities. Myfanwy's gaze followed her as she walked out to the bathroom. 'That animal is too creepy.' She shuddered and tried to slow her breathing down. It was approaching hyperventilation.

xxXxx

She grabbed a hold of the sink with both hands. Her knuckles white. 'Get a hold of your self… oh God…' her mind kept coming back to the image of Jack and his little family. Seeing them sitting there… just like she used to sit with her parents. It truly hit home like nothing else could. Jack has a family. He has a lover and a child. 'Oh God! He will never be mine now.' She felt dizzy and sick to her stomach. She stumbled over to the toilet and sat down and put her head between her knees. 'Rhys! I need Rhys! I still have _him_.' She sat up with lightning speed and almost passed out when the blood rushed away from her head so rapidly. She fumbled desperately in her pockets, trying to locate her phone until she remembered. Her phone was in her purse in the Hub and Rhys was out partying with his mates. She groaned and put her head back between her knees and started sobbing. She had never felt so lonely, or as miserable as she did right now.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there sobbing, when she suddenly felt a hand on her arm. She jumped violently and the hand withdrew immediately. She looked up to see Orion standing beside her. He was looking worried. But why would the kid be here? She didn't understand. She felt a strange annoyance at the kid. How dare he come and intrude and see her like this? She scowled a bit and looked away. She used the pretence of getting some toilet paper and blowing her nose so she could avoid dealing with him.

"Don't cry." He said gently and placed a hand on her knee. She flinched and looked at him.

"Please? It's too sad. It's almost Christmas…" she looked away again and fresh tears rolled down her cheek. What did she care about Christmas now?

"And you have us." He added carefully after a slight pause. She looked at him again - truly seeing him for the first time. She saw the alien in him. Presumably his mother's influence. But she also could see Ianto and Jack in his gorgeous features. Jacks charisma; Ianto's heart. He was looking at her with such an innocent honesty as only a child can.

"Please? Tad is making Irish Coffees and Daddy is going to read a story to us." She smiled slightly through her tears and gently cupped his cheek with her left hand.

"Okay." She whispered to him and he lit up like a Christmas tree. Her heart panged at seeing Jack's smile on the kid. "I'll be right there. Just need to freshen up." He nodded and with another bright smile her way he teleported him self out of the bathroom.

xxXxx

When she came out of the bathroom she was greeted by Ianto coming out of the kitchen with a tray of Irish coffees, a hot chocolate and some treats. He noticed the state of her tear-ravished face, though she had cleaned her make-up up as best she could. He stepped closer and asked quietly:

"Are you okay?" She nodded and smiled weakly. She would be. In time. She looked over toward the others. Jack, Owen and Toshiko were singing a Christmas song at the top of their lungs, while Myfanwy was staring at them in wonder. It was as if the beast was wondering if something was ailing the humans since they were uttering such awful sounds. Knowing Myfanwy that was probably exactly what she was thinking, Gwen snorted inwardly. That animal was entirely too opinionated for her own good. She noticed Orion beaming a smile at her from the couch and she found herself smiling back at him. Ianto did a discrete double take and stared at her for a moment before following her over to the others.

xxXxx

They were once again sitting as before. Owen and Tosh on one side, and Jack and Ianto on the other, with Orion between them. This left Gwen to sit alone at the end of the table. But this time she did not feel left out. They were all singing, teasing, joking and laughing together.

"Daddy, you promised you would read a story." Orion said after a while. Jack beamed at him, making Ianto smile lovingly at them.

"So I did!" He turned away for a moment and pulled out a thin book. It was a colourful copy of _Twas a night before Christmas_. Owen groaned and Toshiko hit him good-naturedly. The two of them exchanged smiles. Jack laughed loudly.

"Well, if you feel so badly about this story, Owen, maybe you would like to hear the Torchwood version?"

"What are you on about?" Owen asked suspiciously. Trust their boss to have some mischief up his sleeve. Jack gave them all a mirthful look and cleared his throat. Ianto settled in hugging Orion against him, while Orion was looking at Jack with avid eyes. Jack started reading – or rather making it up as he went along:

_Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Hub _

_Not a creature was stirring, not even a pup. _

They all looked at him.

"Well you try rhyming that."

_The stockings were hung by the water tower with care,_

_In hopes that St Nicolas soon would be there._

_The operatives were all snug in their beds,_

_While visions of aliens danced in their heads._

_And Ianto in his 'kerchief, and I in my coat_

_Had just laid down while Owen did gloat_

They laughed at this – none more so than Owen, who found it hilarious.

_When up on the Plass there arose such a clatter,_

_I sprang from our bed to see what was the matter._

_Away to the computer I flew like a flash_

_Turned on the CCTV in a right ol' dash. _

"Hey, isn't that Tosh's job?" Gwen asked with a smile and the others laughed._  
><em>

_The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow_

_Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below._

_When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,_

_But a miniature spaceship, and eight tiny aliens near_

"Nice." Ianto chuckled. Orion was listening with rapt attention and shining eyes._  
><em>

_With a little old pilot, so lively and quick,_

_I knew in a moment they were hiding St. Nick._

_More rapid than eagles their little jetpacks flew _

_And he whistled, and shouted – _

Now he was interrupted by Orion sneezing.

"Atjuu"

"Bless you. Hey, that rhymed!" They all groaned at him, except Orion, who sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve to Ianto's mortification.

_Now Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!_

Toshiko and Gwen joined him in saying the names.

_On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, On Donner and Blitzen!_

_To the top of the Millenium Centre! To the Water tower all!_

_Now dash away! Dash away! Fly off to the… Mall._

"Mall? Are they going shopping, Daddy?" Orion exclaimed, to the laughter of everyone.

"Yeah, Jack," Ianto added. "Wouldn't it be closed at that time of night?"

"Or crammed with last minute shoppers?" Gwen added. They laughed as Jack pretended to be upset.

"Well, ha ha." By now even Myfanwy was laughing, though she didn't understand the jokes. She just laughed because her humans were so happy; it was infectious.

_As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,  
>When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.<br>So up to the water tower the aliens flew,_

_With their spacecraft full of weapons and St. Nicolas too._

"Oh, no!" Orion said, staring at Jack with huge eyes. Ianto held him a little tighter.

_And then, in at twinkling, I hid in a nook_

_I saw them landing, using a hook._

"Was that really the best rhyme you could come up with, Harkness?" Owen said scornfully. He did not however waver in his attention to the story. Jack sent him a brief cheerful glance.

_As I drew back my head, and was drawing my gun,_

_Down the water tower came a light as bright as the sun._

_It lit up the Hub, from the floor to the nest, _

_And the workstations looked all filthy; they did not look their best._

"Hey, I just cleaned those!" Ianto exclaimed. Orion glanced up at his Tad and then nodded in confirmation, looking at Jack.

_An alien entered with weapons on his (jet-) pack_

_And though he looked deadly, I pointed my gun right back._

He glared at them all, daring them to comment the rhyme. None of them did, all though they were trying not to laugh and keep a straight face._  
><em>

_His eyes, how they glared! He scowled so madly!_

_His teeth were all crooked and he smelled real badly._

_He was covered in slime and was dripping goo, _

"Eeeww!" Orion said and Ianto nodded.

_I remember thinking of you _

At this Jack looked directly at Ianto, who rolled his eyes.

"That had better be because of my cleaning the floors and not that I'm slimy!" Jack burst out laughing and hurried to lean in and kiss his disgruntled lover. Even Gwen managed a laugh at their antics. Jack petted Orion on the head once and continued:_  
><em>

_The alien glared and then he did speak_

_His voice sounded the way little mice would squeak._

_We have your leader, he said with a glare_

_We have your St Nick, he added with a dare._

By now they were laughing so much he had to pause to let them catch their breaths. He took a sip of his wine.

_I looked incredulously at the slimy little elf,_

_And I laughed when I heard him, in spite of myself!_

_A shot from his weapon and a twist of his head,_

_Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread._

_The weapon was puny; it did no harm at all,_

_And the alien turned tail and flew up the wall._

_A roar of small engines sounded above_

_I looked after them all - mostly with love_

_Up on the Plass stood a sleigh and St. Nick_

_I looked around in a hurry; I thought I might be sick_

_I felt so guilty, I felt such shame_

_I will never doubt his existence again _

_He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,_

_And away they all flew like the down of a thistle._

He gave them a look and the adults joined him in saying the last part:

_But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,_

"_Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"_


	11. Ch11 The colour of Christmas

**Thank you for reading this story. It really makes me happy that you do. And thank you so much for the reviews. Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Chapter 11 The colour of Christmas

It was late afternoon on Christmas Eve. The day had been rather dark and dreary due to the fierce gale force storm that was blowing across Cardiff. The rain was coming down in spades blowing sideways and everything not sufficiently heavy or bolted down became airborne with surprising ease. Earlier that day the local police had to deal with a large garden trampoline flying down one of the main streets before it ended its flight crashing into a sporting goods store. A rather fitting end for such a device, Ianto thought, as he navigated the SUV down the street. Jack was sitting beside him, singing along to the Christmas song that was playing on the radio. Orion was sitting on the backseat, joining in the song, though he didn't know all of the lyrics.

"Daddy, was does that mean? _Mantle of white. A heaven of diamonds shine down thru the night_?" Jack broke of the singing and half turned to look back at their son.

"Well, _mantle of white_ mean snow, the ground is covered with snow; and _a heaven of diamonds_ are the stars." He replied with a smile.

"But, there isn't any snow and the stars are hidden by the clouds." Jack nodded wondering where this was leading. "So why do they put it in a Christmas song?" Ianto smirked at their clever boy. Jack however tried to answer seriously.

"Well… it's romantic, you see," Orion gave him a blank look. "People want snow for Christmas and all that. It's nostalgic and warm and… yeah, romantic." Orion considered this for a moment, before asking:

"But isn't snow supposed to be cold? And doesn't it make traffic difficult? They said so on the news about that snowstorm in central Europe. People were freezing to death in the streets." His eyes were wide at the mere thought of all the people of Cardiff suddenly keeling over in the middle of their Christmas shopping due to cold weather. He could just envision people's terror of being struck by so much as a single snowflake; each one bringing instant death.

"Oh, no, sweetheart," Ianto interjected, having seen the kid's frightened face in the rear view mirror. "It isn't like that. People only die if they don't have proper shelter and warm clothes. If you dress warm and can get inside to warm up, then there is no danger. Those people that died were homeless people that didn't have anywhere to go."

"Yeah," Jack joined in. "snow isn't anything to worry about. It's actually quite fun. You can do all sorts of things with snow." He looked sideways at Ianto who nodded his confirmation.

"Yes, like have a snowball fight, that's were you make balls out of snow that fit in your hand and throw them at others." He said, glancing in the mirror.

"Yeah, and you can make a snowman and snow angels." Jack said enthusiastically. Ianto smiled at him.

"And igloos, like the Eskimos." He nodded.

"Like in the song?" Orion asked hesitantly. They gave him a quizzical look. "_We frolic and play the Eskimo way"_

"Yes, just like that." Ianto smiled encouragingly. It wouldn't do to have their son scared of ordinary snow; not when there were so many other more frightening things out there. Jack laughed.

"You know," he said addressing his lover with a particular gleam in his eye "I can remember another more interesting way of frolicking in the snow and it doesn't involve Eskimos." He leered and winked at him. Ianto rolled his eyes, but before he could speak his attention was completely grabbed by the huge tree that had just fallen on the road directly in front of them. He screamed as he stood on the brakes. Orion screamed as well. Jack was frozen, just staring at the obstacle; silently praying that this wasn't the moment he lost them, his family. Time seemed to slow down, as the car skidded toward the massive tree trunk. It was a tall Christmas tree torn loose from the square in front of the corporate building beside them. Its lights were still shining, Jack noticed in an abstract calm way; he felt as if he had stepped outside of him self and was observing events from without.

Then the SUV struck the tree.

They all went flying forward. The seat belt was cutting into his skin; leaving an ugly bruised burn. The airbags deployed and he and Ianto both struck their heads on them. Jacks awkward sideways position caused him to strike the airbag at a wrong angle. The last thing he heard was the snapping of his own neck. Orion was strapped into his car seat, but it wasn't enough to hold him. Just a fraction of second before his head would have impacted with the back of Jacks seat, he teleported away.

Moments later he teleported back in again. The vehicle was stopped. Ianto groaned as he regained his senses and leaned back in his seat.

"Tad!" his son was screaming frantically. He sounded terrified and was now crying. Ianto slipped the seat belt loose and turned a bit in his seat. Jack was hanging in his seat belt at an odd angle. Ianto straightened him with a groan. It felt like a wonder that he was able to move at all. He looked back at Orion and reached out to him. The kid was out of his seat and was standing just between the two front seats. Orion clambered over the cup holder and the gear shift and into Ianto's lap. Ianto held him tight; letting the child cry and comforting them both. 'It could have gone so wrong' he thought. 'We could have died and left Jack all alone.' The thought was unbearable. He looked over the top of Orion head at Jack. 'Come back, Jack. Come back to us. Now. We need you."

Amazingly the radio was still playing. The sound of Judy Garland telling them to have a merry little Christmas now was joining the sound of Orion crying and the howling of the wind.

xxXxx

Two hours later they arrived at Rhiannon and Johnny's house. Jack had come back to life. The SUV had been towed. They and their suitcases and packages had been stuffed into a taxi. And here they finally were. A bit bruised and very shaken.

When Jack and Ianto tried to help with the unloading of the taxi Orion clung desperately to the both of them and no amount of coaxing could persuade him to let go. In the end Johnny ordered the three of them inside, while he and David saw to their belongings. Rhiannon immediately busied her self with tending to the hapless trio. Within moments they were placed on the living room couch and a mug of hot coffee with a dash of brandy was thrust into their shaking hands. Well, Ianto's hands were shaking. Jack was calm outwardly, but that didn't fool Rhiannon. She knew the signs of shock when she saw them. Jack had been the one to take charge of the situation. He had done the damage assessment, called the tow truck and Rhiannon _and_ arranged for the taxi. She could tell the situation was just now beginning to sink in. Orion was ignoring his cocoa and just sat there. Rhiannon frowned. She had never seen the brave child like that. She didn't like it.

"Hi, Orion. Hi, Uncle Ianto. Hi, Uncle Jack." David and Mica entered the living room, all smiles and childish excitement. They were followed by Johnny, who set down a large gift wrapped parcel by the Christmas tree. Orion shuttered when he noticed the tree and flung his arms around Jack. Both parents looked at him in concern. Ianto leaned in and gently stroked Orion's hair and back.

Mica cocked her head. Her mum had said they had had an accident, but they were fine now. Weren't they? She walked over to stand by Jack's side and put her delicate hand on Orion's shoulder.

"Orion?" she asked. He looked up at her. "Are you okay?" her voice sounded timid and scared. She didn't want her little cousin to be hurt. He nodded slowly, but still kept a hold of his daddy. Jack sighed.

"He's a bit scared and shaken up right now. We all are. But he's going to be fine. You'll see." He assured the girl.

"Uncle Ianto, what happened to the car? Is it totalled?" David said excitedly. He had been hanging back uncertain of how to react, but the excitement got the better of him. He looked at Ianto with such expectation that Ianto couldn't refuse to answer.

"No, it can be repaired. Got a bit bent out of shape in front, but nothing that can't be fixed."

"Won't you tell us what happened? Were you scared?" the boy asked again full of excitement. It was as if he thought they had had some big adventure on the way here; rather than a mere road accident. As Ianto told the story of their encounter with the flying Christmas tree Orion seemed to calm down and gradually loosened his grip on Jack's shirt. He actually smiled when Mica kissed Jack's cheek and told them she was glad they were all right. Rhiannon smiled. She knew they would be all right now. Clapping her hands together she said:

"Let's get dinner on the table, shall we?"

xxXxx

The sun was barely over the horizon, when Mica and David came bouncing into the living room. Mica almost stepped on Ianto, who was sleeping closest to the door. The sleeping Orion was being held in an embrace by Jack, who had been awake for a while. He smiled at the two children and put a finger to his lips. They nodded. David looked slightly disappointed that they couldn't get to the presents just yet, but bowed in gracefully. Mica tiptoed over and squatted by Jack's side.

"Good morning, Uncle Jack. Sleep well?" she asked politely, thinking her mother would be proud if she knew. Jack beamed at her and she felt real happy inside all of a sudden.

"Yes, like a log." He said. "Orion slept fine too." He added, knowing who she really wanted to know about. The connection between the two children was a strong one. She smiled. Orion started stirring, stretched and slowly opened his eyes.

"Morning." He mumbled and snuggled closer to Jack, who stroked the child's hair with a grin and told him good morning in return. Ianto was still out, snoring softly.

Jack looked around at the kids and at Ianto. Coming to a decision he said:

"How about we make breakfast? Would you like some pancakes? Eggs?"

xxXxx

Half an hour later the sound of children's laughter woke up the rest of the adults. Jack was entertaining the kids with outrageous stories, while cooking breakfast. David was setting the table and Orion and Mica were helping. Orion handed Ianto a mug of steaming coffee, which he took and drank without comment. He really wasn't much of a morning person. Certainly not until he had had at least one cup of coffee. Even if the coffee had been made by Jack. Well, at least it was drinkable.

Rhiannon and Johnny came down moments later. Rhiannon was delighted to see food already on the table. Feeding everyone was usually her chore, since Johnny was pants at that sort of thing. So she really enjoyed getting a morning off and made a big deal of it. Johnny grumbled a little, knowing perfectly well that he should do more in that department, but still. He was a bloke, and a Welshman and he did other stuff that she never did. Like… like… ehm… mowing the lawn and cleaning the garage. 'Oh wait she did that too. Okay so maybe I could help out a bit more', he decided. 'She would probably appreciate that. Either that or be totally freaked and accuse me of usurping her' he chuckled to himself. 'You never know with that woman.' That was one of the reasons he loved her so. She kept him on his toes, and she was always there for him and the kids. He kissed her on her cheek, as he stepped past her to his chair. She sent him a what-was-that-for look, but he just shrugged and sent her a smile, as he sat down.

xxXxx

Having eaten breakfast it came time to open the presents. Finally! The kids all agreed. Johnny, being the supposed head of the house, assumed the role of Santa; handing out the presents. And there were a lot of them. Especially for the kids. David got the new computer game he had wanted and Johnny joked that they wouldn't see hide nor hair of the kid, once he got started playing it. Mica's favourite gift was a pretty princess dress with a tiara, shoes and pretty purse to go with it. Orion also got a lot of presents, but the two that stood out was a necklace with a pretty pendant from Toshiko. It was a tracking device in disguise, so they could always find him. The other gift was the large parcel Johnny had carried into the house when they arrived. It had been delivered to the Hub by a staff member from the royal household. It turned out to contain a large Lego Kingdoms medieval castle, complete with little knights and burning torches. Rhiannon thought she was going to faint when she saw the card: to Orion Harkness-Jones from Elisabeth, Queen of England.

"Harkness-Jones… I like the sound of that." Ianto whispered in Jack's ear. Jack turned to give him a cheeky oh-yeah-?-look, but was startled when Ianto held up a little package for Jack to unwrap. With a quizzical look he took the gift and unravelled the string and the paper. It was a jeweller's box. He opened it. His breath caught. Rhiannon gasped and clamped her hands over her mouth, her eyes brimming with happiness. Johnny raised an eyebrow but smiled at them. Orion was sitting on the floor looking excitedly at his parents. He knew what was in the box. He had helped his Tad pick it out.

Mica looked over, but couldn't see what was inside. So she asked:

"What's that, Uncle Jack? What did Uncle Ianto get you?" Jack didn't respond. He looked at the gift and at Ianto and back at the gift again. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. Ianto smiled.

"Breathe, Cariad" he whispered and Jack did so. Softly he nodded at Ianto and squeaked out a tiny, almost inaudible "Yes." Ianto beamed at him and kissed him. Orion squealed and jumped up and threw himself into their arms, catching them unprepared. Rhiannon and Johnny laughed, David smiled and Mica looked happy, but confused. She still didn't know what was in the box or why they were now so happy. She looked from one to the other. Catching Orion's eye, she asked:

"Orion, what's going on? What did he get?" he beamed at her, grabbed the box and held it so she could se the contents: two rings, made of platinum and matted white gold, with a band of red gold down the middle.

"Oh!" her face lit up in a radiant smile as she understood. 'Oh, I love weddings!' she thought delightedly. 'I wonder if they'll need a flower girl?'

xxXxx

That afternoon the kids were playing in Mica's room. David was fumbling with the assault rifle on his action figure, making gunfire noises and pretending to kill Mica's doll collection. Mica and Orion were playing dress up. Mica was dressed in a blue Disney princess dress and pink plastic play-high heeled slippers and a green and pink beaded purse, handed down from one of Rhiannon's friends. Orion was putting on a pink gown, which Mica had worn to a wedding a few years ago.

"What are you doing?" David asked with consternation. Both Mica and Orion looked at him.

"Playing dress up." Mica answered matter-of-factly. Her brother could be so stupid sometimes. 'Didn't he have eyes? Honestly!'

"But you're a boy!" he pointed at Orion.

"So?"

"So boys don't play dress up. Not like that." He indicated the dress Orion was now in. Orion looked down at him self. He couldn't see what the problem was and said so.

"You're a boy! Boys don't wear dresses. And they don't wear pink either!"

Orion was beginning to feel outraged. What was so wrong with wearing a dress? Or with wearing pink?

"What about that man that plays the bagpipes at the mall? He wears a skirt." David snorted at him.

"That's not a skirt, that's a kilt. He's Scottish. Scottish people wear kilts." Orion was getting angry. What was the difference between a kilt and dress? They were both looked like skirts.

"What about the nice Mr. Mahmoudi, from the book store? He wears a dress too."

"No he doesn't." David laughed derisively. "He wears a kaftan. It's a traditional robe in other parts of the world."

"I don't see what the difference is. They look like dresses and skirts." Orion said in a last ditch effort to keep his temper in check. David seemed not to notice.

"Yeah, well… maybe you're colour blind as well, eh?" he indicated the dress Orion was wearing.

"Stop it, David!" Mica half yelled. Her brother was being mean and she didn't like it.

"What do you mean?" Orion said through gritted teeth.

"Boys don't wear pink. Pink is for girls. Boys wear blue." Orion was very angry now.

"But that doesn't make any sense. Look at Mica. She's wearing a _blue_ dress." He pointed to her. She nodded in agreement. "And my Tad is wearing a pink shirt." David was looking a bit flustered now. He hadn't made the rules. They just _were_.

"Well… it's different for girls." He was starting to get uncomfortable. He had noticed the growl Orion was letting out and he remembered the dragon form the kid normally assumed when angry or protective. He swallowed.

"What? Why is it different for girls?"

"I don't know, do I? It just is! And your Tad wears pink 'cause he's a poofter." He said with dismissal, tired of the discussion. He realised his mistake instantly. Orion growled furiously at him, changed into a dragon and went straight for him. David grabbed the small chair next to him and used it to block Orion from getting at him. Orion tried again and this time David managed to fling him away; throwing him over at the radiator beneath the window. Orion landed in a heap, changed back into human form and glared at David from his position on the floor. The next moment David was dressed in pink all over. His jeans, his t-shirt, even his socks were bubble gum pink.

Both Orion and David stopped every movement and stared open-mouthed at the now pink clothes. Mica seemed to startle her self and bolted from room.

"Mum! David and Orion are fighting and now David's turned into a girl!" she could be heard screaming as she ran down the hall.

In the living room the adults choked on their coffee and they looked at each other. Surely not..? He couldn't? Could he?

xxXxx

When they reached the room they saw a most unusual sight. A very pink, but still male, David was standing over Orion, intimidating him. Orion was crying, also dressed in pink.

"Change me back!" he yelled and grabbed the smaller child's arm.

"I don't know how!" Orion screamed in frustration, anger and fear. He really had no idea how he had done that. He hadn't meant to. He had just been so angry and thought his cousin should try wearing pink him self, then he would see that there was nothing wrong with that.

"What is going on in here?" Rhiannon bellowed. David jumped and let go of Orion, whose eyes were huge. He had never seen her look quite so pissed. Then he spotted his Tad standing behind his aunt in the doorway. He got up and ran over to him. His Tad picked him up and held him.

"I'm sorry, Tad. I didn't mean to." He blubbered with tears streaming down his cheeks.

It took Rhiannon a while to get the full story out of the kids. David got a ten minute time out and a serious scolding. Later he was also pulled aside by Ianto and given a talk about how it wasn't nice to discriminate against people and calling them poofters. Orion also got a three minute time out by Rhiannon. Jack didn't approve, seeing that their son needed to be comforted more than punished. But he conceded that Rhiannon had a point; that the child _had_ attacked another child in anger. Even though he _was_ provoked. Besides three minutes wasn't very long.

But to Orion they felt like an eternity. He sat on the step on the stairs where Rhiannon had placed him and he felt so utterly ashamed and confused. He just couldn't understand any of it; but he knew he had responded wrong. He shouldn't have attacked his cousin. But how had he turned him pink? He looked at the dress he was wearing. He didn't feel like wearing it any more. With a pout he gently yanked the shoulders of the dress down until it was resting along his middle. He couldn't remove it completely, because Rhiannon had told him to sit and not get up. He frowned. He really wanted to be rid of the garment. He was still glaring at it, when Rhiannon came back for him.

After having apologized to David and having a change of clothes, he was allowed to join the others in the living room. He rushed over and hugged his Tad and was lifted into his lap. Seeing the unhappy look on his son's face broke Jack's heart a little. He had to do something. Sometimes he really hated this world and the time they lived in - and all the ridiculous labels they attached to every thing and every body. He looked over at Rhiannon and was suddenly struck with an idea.

xxXxx

A few minutes later he came daintily wagging down the stairs. When Orion saw him his eyes became huge and the rest of the family burst into laughter. Jack was dressed in nylons and a floral woman's dress that was open in the back to allow for his larger frame. A shawl was tossed over his shoulders, a hand bag was dangling from his arm and he was even wearing a silly novelty straw hat with orange pom poms as decoration. Two big blobs of lipstick adorned his cheeks as well as his lips and blue eye shadow coloured his eyelids. He looked ridiculous.

He strutted around the living room as if it were a catwalk and sent a flirty kiss to Ianto, who by now was doubled over with laughter. He then bent down and picked up his son and swung around the living room with him. The child squealed with laughter.

"You're silly, Daddy." He said and hugged him.

"And proud of it!" Jack beamed.

**A/N: A bit of angst, a whole lot of fluff and kids that will be kids. That is some Christmas.**

**Oh, the Christmas song was _Winter Wonderland_, in case you missed that.**


	12. Ch12 In sickness and in health

**Thank you so much to everyone still reading this story. Your interest in this story means a lot to me. Extra special thank you to Badly-knitted, who has reviewed every single chapter so far and given extra support as well as some good advice. Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Chapter 12 In sickness and in health

The cold, bitter wind swept across the city as the year came to an end. The newly engaged couple had left Orion to spend new years with Rhiannon and the family, so they could have a night to themselves. They had put their child-free time to good use. Made love in the afternoon and dressed up in their fineries for the evening. They had gone through a nice romantic candlelit dinner and had danced softly to Glenn Miller playing in the background. Sadly they had been interrupted by an alarm. A weevil sighting downtown, followed by a spike in the rift, bringing through an ancient Mongolian warrior with a damaged mind. Local police shot him before the boys could get there. All they could do was collect the corpse. The city was awash with the festive crowds imbibing ridiculous amounts of alcohol and behaving as if tomorrow would never come.

So it was a tired pair that made it back to the Hub early in the morning. Moods were on edge and they decided to just go to bed. Things would look up in the morning

"Gnrh" the disgruntled sound came from somewhere underneath the duvet around the centre of the bed. A slight movement rippled under the cover. The loud sound of "Staying Alive" by ABBA shattered the silence in the room. The darkness was pierced by the harsh blue glare from the vibrating mobile. Soon it would vibrate clear off the night stand and clatter to the floor. That is if someone didn't answer it. 'Well it's not gonna be me!' Ianto thought sleepily and burrowed deeper under the duvet, trying to block out the sound. Jack stirred sluggishly, but eventually he reached out and without looking fumbled after the phone. He managed to knock it to the floor and grumbling under his breath he leaned down and picked it up. Ianto's arm was flung across Jack's stomach and when he moved the arm slid further down almost coming into contact with his favourite body part. Jack was tempted to just let the phone ring and play with his Welshman instead. But duty called to him as it had done so many times before. He answered it.

"It had better be important." Sleepy as he was he still managed to sound grumpy, but professional.

"Jack? It's Johnny." For a brief moment Jack couldn't remember who Johnny was. An ex lover? Someone they had worked with? But then his brain caught up. Rhiannon's Johnny. "I think you need to get here. There's something wrong with the kids." Jack sat up immediately, disturbing Ianto in the process.

"Jack? What's wrong?" Ianto mumbled as he was looking sleepily up at him.

"What do you mean?" Jack said into the phone as he shot a worried glance at Ianto, who was slowly sitting up.

"They all started getting sick last night. At first it just seemed like flu or something. That's why we didn't call. But now… Jack, I've never seen anything like it." The man's voice was shaking now. He was truly disturbed by this.

"Jack, what's going on? Who are you talking to?" Ianto interrupted. Jack waved his hand at him in shushing motion. Ianto rolled his eyes at him, but remained silent.

"Are you sure it's serious? Kids get sick all the time." At this Ianto became very alert and watched him like a hawk. "What are the symptoms?"

"That's the weird part. They all have fevers, cold sweats and are difficult to talk to. You know..? Unresponsive. Orion's the worst. He seems like he's delirious. But that's not all. They have spots all over them. But the spots are all purple." During the conversation Jack became increasingly alarmed. Until now Orion had never shown any sign of sickness. Heck, he had never even sported an injury. Not even a bruise. With his weird part alien physiology who knew what could happen. It was not unheard of for indigenous species to be wiped out by diseases that were harmless in other species. It had happened on Earth in the past. Many Native Americans died from the chicken pox and other such diseases that were otherwise fairly harmless in the people who had infected them. 'Did he say purple spots? Purple, not red?'

"We're on our way."

xxXxx

They drove in silence along the nearly empty city streets. Most people were at home sleeping off the alcohol and nursing their hangovers. The remains of fireworks were scattered all over the pavements and streets. Slight scorch marks accompanied various spent fireworks batteries. Jack couldn't help but speculate how much black powder had been used in that one evening and compare it to one of the many wars he had participated in back when he was younger and still new to this planet. He shuddered at the thought. Lighting fireworks once a year really was a rather barbaric custom. But so very human. Not many species would use a weapons ingredient as a means of celebration. He supposed it was a form of poetry that humans would always strive to turn even the nastiest of evils into something of beauty and peace. Like children using their imagination and turning a dangerously sharp stick into a toy.

With a jerk his thoughts returned to the reason they were now driving along. Orion and the kids. 'What could be wrong?' He could not for the life of him remember any disease that caused purple spot. Red ones, yes. And yellow ones and even green ones. But not purple. He glanced at Ianto in the passenger seat. The young man was staring pensively out the window, a worried frown on his forehead.

"I'm sure they will be fine." Jack said softly. Ianto startled and sent him a quick apologetic, embarrassed look. He nodded tightly, clenching his jaw. He turned back to stare out the window, but put his hand on Jack's thigh. Jack but his own hand over it and drove on.

xxXxx

They arrived at the house soon after and were immediately greeted by Johnny and shown to the children's rooms. Orion was sleeping in Mica's room on the lower bunk. Ianto immediately rushed to his side. Sitting on the bunk he put his hand on the small child's forehead in the age old movement of checking for fever. Jack moved over to them; put his hand on Ianto's shoulder as they both gazed at their son. Orion was clammy, hot and slightly restless. Tossing his head a little and making small mewling distressing sounds. Just as Johnny had said, the child was covered in purpled spots. Jack looked up to see Mica in a similar state in the top bunk.

Rhiannon came into the room, carrying a bowl of water and a cloth. Setting the bowl down, she dipped a cloth in the water, wrung it and handed it to Ianto.

"David's the same as these two." She repeated the process with another cloth and placed it on Mica's head. She shook her head, as if to shake an unpleasant thought away. "I have never seen anything like this, Jack. What kind of disease gives you spots like those?" she indicated the children.

"I don't know, Rhi, but I promise you we will find out." She sighed and nodded. With a long look at Mica she exited the room. Ianto looked up at Jack.

"Do you think this is alien? Some Torchwood bug? Did we do this?" his voice cracked. It was just too awful a thought. What if they had somehow infected these innocent children? Heaven knows they were exposed to who knows how many things by all those aliens they came in contact with. Just last week he and Jack had crawled around inside a drain pipe that could have been infested with who knew what.

The look that Jack sent him wasn't reassuring. Jack squatted down in front of him, grabbed his hand and placed the other on his knee.

"It's possible. I won't deny it," Ianto opened his mouth to ask questions, to argue, to say _something, anything._ But Jack held up his hand, stalling the flow of words. "But we won't know until Owen has looked at them. If it is alien, then we will deal with it, okay?" Jack was looking at him beseechingly. Ianto sighed and nodded tersely.

"I'll call Owen now."

xxXxx

Johnny opened the door to see a wreck of a human being slouching on the door frame. The smallish man was dressed in a suit, though it was a several hours since it had been in a presentable state. He looked like he had slept in it. The shirt was hanging out and the jacket was put on inside out. The tie was undone and hung loosely around his neck. His hair stood on ends and he had a lipstick kiss on one cheek. The man was currently holding a hand across his eyes as he hiccupped and looked miserable. Johnny feared for a moment that the man would chuck up right then and there. The man groaned and peaked through his fingers at him.

"Hi. Dr. Owen Harper, at your service." He groaned again and staggered past into the house. "Oi, spaceman! Where are you?" he hollered as he stumbled further into the house. He soon found a wall and clung to it, as if he was seasick and needed something unmoving to hold on to. Johnny was too dumbfounded to say or do anything. But Rhiannon didn't have the same compunction. Like a fury she stormed down the stairs followed shortly by Jack and Ianto. Owen paled as she came stomping into the room.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" she yelled. "Are you drunk? You are. Aren't you? How dare you show up at my house like this! If you think I am going to let you near the kids like this, you got another thing coming! What the hell were you thinking?" When Jack tried to defend Owen, it only brought him into the spot light. She whirled like a dervish and pointed a finger at him. "And you! Captain! Jack! Harkness! You brought him here. How can you even think of letting a drunkard come anywhere near you son?" As Jack was trying to defend himself and Owen – and failing at both, Ianto went over to take Owen's bag. The man had had the presence of mind to grab it and bring it with him. He rummaged inside and found the little bottle he was looking for. The Arkadian Alcohol Neutralizer. He prepared the syringe and the equipment he'd need for the injection. With a quick glance at his irate sister and floundering fiancée he grabbed hold of Owen's arm and steered him to the nearest seat. The man saw what he was doing and tried to help. Ianto swatted his hands away. It would be quicker if he did it him self. Within moments he had Owen's shirt unbuttoned and the rubber cord wound tight around the man's arm. He swiped the arm with the disinfectant and injected the neutralizer into Owen's arm.

"Gonna steal my job, tea-boy?" Owen slurred with smile. Ianto rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"Hardly. Sit still until it kicks in, 'right?" the man nodded. Ianto packed up and looked back the others. They were still arguing and now Johnny had joined the fray, trying to calm both agitated parties down. Ianto sighed. He knew his sister, when she got like this. Like a terrier that never would let go. There was only one thing to do. Sighing he got up, drew in a deep breath and let out a loud piercing whistle. He kept at it until all other noise in the room had died. The others had jumped and covered their ears.

"Rhi, Jack, Johnny, Shut the fuck up!" he held up his hand to forestall any protests. "I just gave Owen an alcohol neutralizer. When it kicks in, he will go and examine the kids and you will not stand in his way, is that clear?" he looked pointedly at Rhiannon. She gaped like a fish out of water, but finally she nodded and he looked at Johnny and Jack until they nodded as well. "Good. Owen, go get cleaned up. Bathroom is upstairs to the left. Rhiannon, Jack, go check on the kids. Johnny, help me in the kitchen. I think coffee and sandwiches are in order." He looked around with an anybody-got-a-problem-with-that glare. They all hopped to it. He allowed himself a tiny smug smile as he followed Johnny into the kitchen.


	13. Ch13 For better or for worse

**Thank you to all who show an interest in this. You warm my heart.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Chapter 13 For better or for worse

Ianto was standing at the kitchen counter expertly operating the coffee machine, when it happened. _It_ was the sudden loud noise of several car alarms going off at the same time. Both he and Johnny looked out the window to see what was going on. The car parked in the driveway was flashing its lights and howling furiously to let everyone know it was being stolen. Except that it wasn't. Neither were the other cars parked at the various neighbours houses that where also sounding their alarms.

Then to their amazement the hood of the car started opening and closing, the car windows began sliding open and shut, the locks on the doors locking and unlocking. Johnny gaped at the sight. He had never seen such a mad display before. Ianto was only slightly surprised. When you worked for Torchwood you got used to the unusual no matter how surprising it might be. He speculated at the cause of the disturbance. 'Some electrical impulse? Maybe caused by the rift or an alien ship? Was it a deliberate attack? A ruse to unsettle us and make us an easy target?'

Then the lights in the house started to flicker on and off again. Though he noticed that it stayed on at the other houses. The coffee sudden exploded out of the machine, splashing every surface with the dark liquid. The hands on the clock on the wall started spinning rapidly. There was a noise from the living room, as if the stereo and the TV had been turned on by themselves. He left Johnny and went in there to check. The room was empty.

He went over and turned the devices off, only to have them flicker back on again a moment later. After the same thing had been repeated a few times he resolved the problem by simply pulling the plug from the wall socket. 'What the bloody hell is going on?' he thought as he headed up the stairs to check on his loved ones.

As he arrived on the top of the stairs he had to swerve away quickly in order to avoid hitting a toy fire engine that was floating through the air; its little siren sounding shrilly. He looked at the toy. It appeared to be hovering in the air unassisted. He grabbed it and turned off the noisy siren. He stared at it for a moment. 'Why would aliens cause this? Did they suddenly have a poltergeist on their hands? A poltergeist with a love for noisy vehicles? That didn't make any sense' he thought as he moved further down the hallway.

When he reached Mica's room he again stopped to survey the goings on. Rhiannon was by the bed, tending to Mica while Jack was by the window. It seemed he had been backed into the window sill by a floating glob of water hanging just in front of him, with an empty water jug near by. The room was full of floating objects; children's toys, books, clothing, even some small furniture like the desk lamp and the chair David had used to ward off Orion. Ianto gaped open mouthed. He had seen many things, but this… he ducked as a doll came sailing past his head a little too close for comfort. Just as he locked eyes with Jack all the objects came crashing to the floor.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Owen shouted from behind Ianto, making him jump. Jack removed the pair of pink Cinderella leggings that had landed on his head and said:

"Some sort of telekinesis, it seems. Maybe even some form of electricity control."

"But… how..?" Owen seemed lost for words. It was rather unlike him. The man normally had a snarky remark for every occasion.

"Things went haywire downstairs as well. Not to mention the cars out on the street." Ianto told Jack. He nodded.

"This house appears to be the epicentre." Ianto paled. He looked over at the bunk bed.

"Orion." He whispered. Jack heard him though and agreed.

"Orion."

Owen looked at them in confusion.

"Are you saying he is responsible?" he asked incredulously. It seemed so unlikely to him that a small child could cause all of that. Though he didn't much appreciate little kids he had grown fond of the little tyke. If he suddenly posed a threat… well that didn't bear thinking. He looked over at the lower bunk, where Ianto was now sitting beside Orion. The child was tossing and turning, mumbling nonsense and clearly suffering from a fever. Rhiannon looked at Jack unapprovingly. How he could blame a small child for this she would never understand. She kept quiet though, for now at least. This was their area of expertise after all.

Ianto held a fresh cool cloth to Orion's forehead as Jack answered.

"It seems likely. Remember the information in the pamphlet. The Saluvians have all sorts of special abilities. Is it such a big leap for Orion to have some of those abilities as well? Last week at Christmas he turned David's clothes pink."

"No, its just that… wait… what? He did what?" Ianto's lips curled up at the sides at that.

"Well it was an accident and we still don't know how he did it, but…" Jack shrugged dismissaly. Owen gave him a long hard stare, before he finally shrugged and went over to the bed. Ianto reluctantly moved out of the way to give the doctor room to examine the kids. Orion was still tossing restlessly in the bed and all around the room objects were shuttering, as if they wanted to be airborne again, but were struggling with it.

Owen examined Mica first. Gently pulling her duvet back and checking her vitals. Rhiannon stood passively by keeping a close watch. The man did know what he was doing, she knew. In spite of his earlier appearance he now seemed quite sober and the modicum of cleaning up he had managed before the disruption had helped a bit. If anybody could figure this thing out, it would be him. He was the world's leading expert on alien diseases. She snorted inwardly. He was the _only_ expert in this field on the planet.

She spotted Johnny by the door. He looked as spooked as she felt. This whole thing was like something out of the films. Like that poltergeist movie. A frightening thought occurred to her. What if they had to bring in someone else and it was someone like that little scary woman with the squeaky voice like that movie? She shivered and berated herself for being silly. There were no ghosts here. This was alien, not spectral. Ianto noticed his sister's discomfort and joined her, throwing his arm about her waist. She smiled gently at him, grateful for his support. Johnny left to check on David, while they waited for the doctor to finish with the other two children.

xxXxx

Ianto stayed with Orion and Mica, while Owen was examining David in the next room. Jack had gone downstairs to clean up in the kitchen and to be alone with his thoughts. This was the part of being a family that he hated. The worrying. The fear of loosing them. He had lost so many people already. It had not been easy for him to surrender him self to the force of nature that was Ianto Jones. He had in fact put up a good fight. But Ianto had persevered and patiently stood by him through thick and thin. One night things had come to a head. They had argued and Ianto had given him an ultimatum. Either he committed him self to the relationship or they were through. He had stormed out and abandoned Ianto and the team for a whole week.

He'd gotten drunk, slept with some random chick he'd met at a bar, woken up in a back alley with no clear recollection of how he had gotten there. A street bum had smirked at him and pulled him over to a small fire to get warm. They had sat in silence for a long time. Then the bum suddenly spoke. He told him, that the only home a person has is the present; that you cannot make a living in the past or the future. After that he became silent again and went back to ignoring Jack. It had been most unusual. To this day Jack still couldn't figure the bum out. Was he a psychic? Maybe he had been The Doctor in disguise or something… Jack snorted at the idea 'as if the Gallifreyan didn't have other things to do. Like saving the world as we know it.' He had gone back to his hotel, gotten cleaned up and then gone and apologized to his wonderful Welshman. Things had been a bit rocky at first. Trust once lost is not automatically returned, he discovered. Things were good now, though.

He looked down at the ring on his finger. Things were very good indeed between them. He had never imagined Ianto would propose. But he sure was glad that he had. These days he could not imagine being without the young man. He knew someday, hopefully in the distant future, he would loose him and be alone again. But he was here now and that was all that mattered. The bum had been right. His life was in the here and now and shouldn't be spent bemoaning the past or dreading the future. He sighed. It wasn't easy though. The many years weighed heavily on him and there were so many years of careful conditioning to break. Ianto helped though. He was a breath of fresh air in his life and now Orion was too.

He had had other children. Alice was just the most recent. He had even carried a child to term once a long time ago; though that was not an experience he cared to repeat. 51st century men might be able to become pregnant, but that didn't mean that they should. No, he would gladly leave that to the women, who were actually built for that kind of thing. He smiled as this thought led him to thinking about Sybille. What a night that had been! It was sad what had happened to her. Death by husband didn't sound like a nice way to go. But he was grateful in a strange way, because her death had let to Orion's arrival in their midst.

He smiled at the thought of their son. The kid had wormed his way into the hearts of everyone very quickly. Even Gwen's. He had been astonished, when Gwen had joined in the fun at the party before Christmas and he suspected Orion had had something to do with it; though he didn't know what exactly. Tosh already behaved like an adoring aunt, Owen could be perceived as a grumpy uncle and Ianto's family clearly loved the kid. Rhiannon was a good mother-figure for him. Jack smiled at the thought of her. The woman was a fierce protector of first Ianto and her kids and now of Orion as well. He knew she had practically raised Ianto; taking over the role of the mother after their real mother died. Their father had been a broken man; first with grief over his wife and then by the failure of his master tailor's shop. He had instead been forced to get a job in a department store selling men's wear. He had turned to the drink after that. It had been a hard childhood for the both of the Jones children. Jack sighed. He knew he and Ianto as well as Rhiannon would ensure that Orion would get a better upbringing. If they could figure out what was wrong with him, that is.

xxXxx

Upstairs Ianto was sitting awkwardly on the side of the lower bunk and holding his son's hand. He had a crick in his back and his neck was killing him. He had to lean at a weird angle because of the top bunk. He rolled his head and shoulders in order to relieve some of the aches. Then he rapidly had to duck again as a book came sailing past him. One by one the various objects in the room started to become airborne again and fly around the room; some of them just seemed to float gently, while others whizzed around in circles. There seemed no discernible pattern to it. From downstairs he could hear the tumble dryer turn on and the lights flickered again. He looked down at Orion. He appeared to be delirious. He was mumbling in a strange language, or maybe several different languages; Ianto couldn't be sure. The kid tossed restlessly and Ianto put his hand on his forehead to prevent the cloth from dislodging.

"Ducks are roller-skating… the beach… scissors chasing the moons… song…" were some of the only words he could make out that were in English. 'What in the world was going on in the kid's sub consciousness?' he wondered.

Owen poked his head in on the way past. He gave a momentary start at the sight of the things flying around before continuing.

"I'm going to the Hub. I need to feed these samples to the medical computer for analysis." Ianto nodded. He hadn't expected a diagnosis already, though it would have been preferable. "Call me if there is any change, okay?" He nodded again. He was prepared for a long vigil.

xxXxx

Downstairs Jack was on the phone with Gwen. The woman had called to ask about the thing she had seen on the news. Jack had proceeded to the living room and grabbed the remote to turn the TV on. Nothing had happened though. It took him a few moments to realise that the plug had been pulled. When he was finally able to turn it on and switch to the news channel he felt rather shaken. They were reporting from the hospital, where several children had been admitted with a mysterious disease. More children could be seen arriving as the reporter spoke. All of the children had fevers and purple spots.

**Hmm, how did this story turn so gloomy all of a sudden? I'll see what I can do about that. The humour will be back, I promise.**

**Anyway…**

**Merry Christmas everyone**


	14. Ch14 The voice of the nightingale

**Thank you so much for your reviews. I hope you have all had a merry Christmas - or whatever other holiday you celebrate (if any).**

**Yeah, this story has surpassed 10.000 hits! You guys are amazing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Chapter 14 The voice of the nightingale

"Reports are coming in from all over Cardiff." Gwen announced a few hours later. They had relocated to the Hub, leaving Ianto with Orion at Rhiannon's house. Jack had tried to make Ianto go too, but he had been adamant about staying. Nothing Jack said could make him leave their son now. Secretly Jack felt a great respect for that, as well as a lingering jealousy, that was well hidden, but there none the less. He wished he too had the privilege to stay, but he was the Captain. He was the leader. He had no choice. With an effort he pulled his thoughts together and focused on the situation at hand.

"Children are poring into the hospitals and clinics. All of them with the same symptoms." Gwen proceeded. She switched over to a live news feed on the computer. The news anchorman looked stern and serious. The caption running along the bottom of the screen said _Epidemic of mysterious disease in Cardiff_. The image in a corner of the screen showed people in blue environment suits were milling around on a parking lot in front of a hospital. 'They look like spacesuits' Gwen thought to her self as she watched them push unconscious children around on gurneys and anxious parents rushing along side. The image changed to show a ruffled looking reporter with a microphone in one hand and holding the other up to her earpiece. When informed that she was on the air, she went into action immediately. With a great flourish she swept her arm to encompass the vista behind her and dramatically proclaimed:

"What you see behind me is nothing short of at disaster. The future of Cardiff hangs in the balance as our children fight for their lives at this very moment. With me is Doctor Martha Jones," she indicated the beautiful young woman now appearing in the frame with her. "Dr. Jones, what can you tell us about this awful tragedy?"

Jack beamed radiantly. If she was on the case, then they stood a chance; he was sure of it. He dug into his pocket in search of his phone.

"Tragedy? Please. We are not at that point yet," she held up her hand to forestall the flood of questions that were sure to follow. "No one has died yet; and we are working very hard to keep it that way. I assure you, there is no need to get carried away. The finest doctors in the country, and indeed the world are on the case. All of them are trying to find a cure for this." Dr. Jones smiled soothingly; applying the utmost calm bedside manner in an effort to do some damage control. The last thing any of them needed was a mass panic.

"Is there any news on the cause of this illness?" the reporter smiled coldly. She resented being forced to do this kind of work at her point in her carrier. She should have been sitting in the nice warm studio presenting the news, instead of treading around disease infested cities and probably catching who-knew-what.

"None at this time, I'm afraid. We have a lot of people investigating this. It will only be a matter of time before we find our answers." She smiled winningly.

"But surely you must be able to tell us something? Why are only the children getting sick? Why…" again Dr. Jones held up her hand for silence. The reporter reluctantly bowed down.

"As I said before, we are doing all we can to find the answers to those questions. Now you must excuse me; I need to get back to work."

Dr. Martha Jones noticed that her phone began to ring almost the very second the camera lights went off. She dug it out of her pocket as the reporter thanked her. When she saw the caller id, she smiled. 'Should have known.'

"Doctor Martha Jones. Voice of the nightingale." The boisterous voice announced to her when she answered. She lit up in a smile.

"Captain Jack Harkness, I've been expecting your call."

xxXxx

An hour later she found her self sitting in the meeting room of Torchwood Cardiff, deep under Roald Dahl Plass. She suddenly wished that she could actually some day get to visit the Hub without some dire crisis in the making. But this was not that day.

"So, if UNIT is involved, it must mean you suspect foul play." Jack proclaimed and looked at her expectantly. "Care to share?" She smiled at him.

"That _is_ why I volunteered to come." Jack beamed at her. "UNIT wants to offer full cooperation to Torchwood Cardiff and I will serve as liaison." Jack nodded his agreement. So she continued.

"UNIT is setting up a base of operations at Llandaff Fields; it is close to Rookwood Hospital." Jack nodded. He of course knew the place quite well. "UNIT troops, the Army and the Home Guard will be placed to help with crowd control and to help any way they can. The Army is flying in some MASH units to assist as well." Owen paled. This thing was massive.

"How many are sick?" he asked. Martha looked at him a moment before replying.

"The exact number is still unclear, but it's in the hundreds, if not in the thousands. We don't really know yet. A lot of the patients are at home with their parents and have not yet been brought in. But it is vital that they will be. And soon." Owen nodded in comprehension, but both Gwen and Toshiko looked confused. Martha noticed.

"They will need proper care. They are unconscious, so they can't eat or drink for themselves. They will need IV-fluids and tube-feeding. They will also need diapers, since they can't go to loo and there will also be hygiene issues to tend to as well." The two women both understood now, how grave the situation had become. They would need a lot of people to look after all those children. There were 341.000 people in Cardiff; many of them would be young children.

Jack was pale and withdrawn; his thoughts were with Orion and the other kids. His little boy, his special little wonder. Oddly the image of Orion sleeping on Ianto's chest the very first night came to him. It had been the night of the infamous weevil hunt. The one he had brought Orion on. He shook his head. How could he have been so careless? He had put his son at risk then. Nothing had come of it though, but now... Had he caused his son's illness? Him and Torchwood? Had it been some alien whose bacteria and viruses he had brought back home with him? He shook himself violently to dispel the awful thoughts.

"You haven't answered my question." He said gruffly. Martha looked at him curiously. "Is it foul play?" Gwen looked shocked that she hadn't considered an attack herself.

"Terrorists?" she whispered. Jack gave her an annoyed glance.

"It's possible." Martha conceded. "But you of all people must know that it's too soon…" she didn't get any further, as Jack jumped from his seat looking furious. He slammed his fist into the table; making Owen and the others jump. Martha remained as she was. She had dealt with an angry Timelord without flinching. Two actually, when counting the Master. She could certainly deal with one Captain Jack Harkness. She met his glare straight on.

"My son is lying in a sickbed, as we speak. His two cousins lying next to him. His nephew is also sick. So don't give me that codswallop. Tell me!" There were looks of shock all around the table. Both because of Jack's strong reaction, but also because of the revelation Jack had unwittingly made. 'nephew?' Gwen mouthed to Owen and Toshiko, who were equally in the dark.

"Your… your son!" Martha's voice quivered. "I had no idea. I… I didn't know you have a son." She was rather shaken by this. How come he hadn't told her? She had thought they were close enough friends for him to tell her about something as big as that. Besides if he had a vested interest in this case, then he could potentially become a liability to the mission. If it turned out that there was foul play involved, as he put it, then he might go off and seek retribution. Not that she blamed him, but still. The situation would require careful supervision and handling.

Jack glared at her relentlessly. She knew something. That he was absolutely sure of. Why else would she and UNIT be here? She sighed heavily and looked at him.

"Look, I can tell you that UNIT suspects interference. Weather that is foreign, domestic or alien remains to be discovered. I can also tell you that we are dealing with a virus. The likes of which has not been seen on this world before. It targets children, but not all children." The last made all of them sit up and at full attention. "It only targets children that have not entered puberty."

"What!" Gwen shouted. Owen looked thoughtful.

"The hormones of adolescents and adults must influence the virus somehow." Martha nodded excitedly.

"Yes, we think that…" she and Owen buried themselves in a lengthy discussion full of technical medical jargon. Jack participated every now and again, but he was soon out of his depth. He sent Gwen out after some food and told Toshiko to get cracking on the computers. With a glance at the two doctors he left the meeting room and went up to his office. Before he could enter though, he heard the lonely cry of Myfanwy. She was sitting on the floor of the Hub by the kitchen and looking quite forlorn. The sight broke his heart.

"We'll bring him back to you safe and sound, girl. I promise." He whispered. As he entered the office and shut the door behind him, Myfanwy raised her head and looked at where he had been.

**I'm sorry to leave it at such a sad note, but it just seamed right somehow.**

**I wish you a happy new year. Take care of yourselves on the big night.**


	15. Ch15 Inbetween places

**Thank you to DoctorMarthaJones, Badly-knitted and Jessie Blackwood for your reviews and thanks to all those who still read this story. Your support is much appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Chapter 15 In-between places

Orion found himself in a strange land; there were no discernable landmarks; no buildings or trees; no rivers or valleys. Just a rolling thick fog covering the ground as far as he could see. The fog was bluish in colour, but it didn't feel damp, as fog was want to do. It didn't feel cold or warm either. It was just a pleasant state of being. He looked around and at first he saw nothing but the fog. But then shapes appeared in it. He looked at them in wonder. He laughed. There was the shape of an apple and over there was seagull. A tree, a large dragonfly, a train, a toilet, the Torchwood SUV. For some reason he found all of them funny.

A shape appeared by his hand and he gently scooped it up; cupping it in his hand. It became a spider with great big eyes all blinking up at him. He smiled delightedly. The spider sat in his hands for a moment, and then it scurried to the tip of his fingers. It wove a thread and secured it there. The spider turned and looked back up at him, winked and dived off his fingers, like a bungee jumper. He laughed heartily as the spider dove down back into the mist where it disappeared. The thread dissolved into mist.

Then he heard a sound. It was beautiful. Like the sound of shooting star or a unicorn's laughter or something equally impossible. He looked around to see if he could spot the cause of it. But there was nothing. Just the random appearances of all the various shapes. Then he became aware of a blue light in the distance. The sound seemed to come from there. It seemed to beckon him; calling him to it. He smiled and moved toward it.

But he could not get near it. There was something holding him back. He could feel it; like a rope stretched taught, preventing him. He turned and looked at his tether. It was invisible to normal sight, but when he used his other-sight on it, he could see it clearly. A thin shining golden bond going off into the distance. His bonded would be at the other end somewhere. A deep longing filled him. He wanted to go to his bonded; but it was too soon. They were not yet ready. He looked over his shoulder at the blue light. It was still calling for him. But his bonded would not let him go. As he watched he became aware of another sound; reverberating along the bond. Like striking a chord on an instrument. Fear. His bonded was afraid for him. Terrified that he would leave them all alone. With a sigh and a look of longing he turned away from the beautiful light.

xxXxx

Far away on another world a small child sat bolt upright in bed. A single tear flowed down its cheek and a smile adorned its face.

xxXxx

Rhiannon stood by the kitchen sink absentmindedly drying off a cup with a dishtowel. She stared out of the window, not really noticing the small drama going on in the street. The Carlton's from two houses down were loading their two youngest children into an army ambulance. Both of them sported the now so familiar purple spots. Luckily the oldest child was an adolescent and as such was not infected.

Her thoughts moved to her own children upstairs. They were hooked up to IV's and what not. She had never before seen half of the equipment the grumpy doctor had brought in to her house. Some of it seemed decidedly alien, though she couldn't actually be sure. Sometimes she cursed her lack of education. Maybe if she had studied harder and gone on to higher education, she wouldn't feel so out of her depths now. Ianto had assured her that the kids wouldn't come to any harm and that Dr. Harper knew what he was doing. She had reluctantly accepted it. After all Ianto trusted the man with his own son's life.

It wasn't safe to keep Orion in the same room as Mica. He was still making everything fly around the room, though now he seemed to limit it to the room he was in; once the small ghettoblaster had whizzed past Mica coming very close to hitting her. That's when they decided to empty David's room and put Orion in there and to put David in with Mica. Ianto had been very understanding of their concerns and had helped without objections.

She thought of her younger brother. She had tried prying him away from the bedside for just a few hours, but he wouldn't budge. Her lips curled up slightly. He was just as stubborn as she was. 'Must be a family trait.' He had eventually fallen asleep in the chair, his hand still holding onto Orion's.

xxXxx

Orion sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree. It seemed he had willed the tree into existence. He had seen it in his mind and then it was there. He decided to try another thing. He stared at a patch of fog swirling around him and his tree, and he envisioned a pigeon. It wasn't that he particularly liked pigeons; it was just that he had seen so many of them in Cardiff. Moments later a pigeon swirled into being out of the fog. It shook its wings, as if to ruffle its feathers into place and then it took flight. He watched it fly off as he laughed in delight. This was a fun place. Where ever he was.

xxXxx

By the late afternoon Jack came back to check how things were going. Johnny had handed him a coffee and patted him sympathetically on the back. Johnny had seen to the clearing out of David's things. That had been too much of a reminder of what would happen if the children didn't make it. It had suddenly become way too real for his liking. So he had helped a neighbour with some chores, just to get away for awhile and had been taking care of the household, freeing up Rhiannon to focus on the kids. Still he was finding it hard to cope.

Jack looked to be fairing no better. He was rather rumpled looking and had dark lines under his eyes. His face was a hard mask covering a deep rooted anxiety. Johnny knew there was little he could do to help. That sort of thing was more Rhiannon's department than his. So he just offered his presence and sent the man up the stairs.

Jack stopped in the doorway, watching the scene in front of him. Ianto was sleeping in the chair. His chin resting on his chest. 'He'll have a sore neck when he wakes up' Jack thought. Orion seemed to be resting calmly at the moment. The IV's had been taped to the wall by the head of the bed; to prevent them from flying around the room. A strange device was taped to the mattress next to Orion's pillow. It blinked with small lights, but didn't do anything else that he could tell. 'Must be one of Owen's toys.'

Rhiannon softly approached him and put her arm around his waist. He was touched by her gesture and smiled gently at her, before looking back at his family.

"Orion's doing a little better now." She whispered. "At least he's not thrashing around like he did before." Jack nodded. He could see the improvement, but he didn't dare hope yet.

"Ianto hasn't left his side, since we moved him in here." She sighed. "I tried to get him to take a nap in our room but he refused." Jack smiled. That was so like his Ianto. "Go on, I'll bring you an extra chair." She said and gave him a slight push into the room. He smiled at her and went over to the bed. He smiled down at Ianto as he put his greatcoat over him like a blanket. Then he looked down at his son. Orion was stirring a little, but was still deeply unconscious. He bent down and kissed his forehead and sat down on the floor where he could reach both of them. He put his head on the mattress and thought of the events of the last few days.

Bringing in Martha Jones and UNIT had proved a stroke of luck. Their vast resources had really helped with dealing with this crisis. If Torchwood had been the sole agency on the job; they wouldn't have stood a chance. UNIT had quickly set up treatment centres around Cardiff. Anyone suffering from normal injuries and illnesses was sent there. The weather was too cold to allow the sick children to be treated in the tents. Instead they were filling up the hospitals; in some cases the local gyms had also been drafted into service. Medical personnel saw to the IV's and tubes. The parents were given the job of tending to their children's needs where no medical skills were required. Such as changing diapers, maintaining hygiene and preventing bedsores.

It had been UNIT that had discovered the source of the infection. Both Torchwood and UNIT had investigated all sorts of possible sources. They had turned the city upside down, leaving not so much as a sewer unchecked. Samples taken from the Cardiff Waterworks showed that the virus had been found in the water in an abundantly high concentration. It seemed almost certain that someone had deliberately planted it there. 'Why would someone do something like that? And who?' he pondered the matter even as his eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep.

When Rhiannon returned with the chair, she just smiled, set the chair down in the hall and softly closed the door.

xxXxx

Orion didn't know how long he had been in that strange place, but it seemed a long time. He had grown tired of creating things out the fog and the blue light seemed to be taunting him now. He wished he could leave that strange place and just go home. He wanted his Tad and his Daddy; and he wanted Myfanwy and Rhiannon and all the others. He drew his legs up, wrapped his arms around them and cried.

He had fallen asleep at some point, but when he woke up he was still there at the strange place. It wasn't funny anymore. He wanted his Daddy to hold him and his Tad to tell him that everything would be okay. That he would be safe. He cried himself to sleep again; dreaming of being lost in the fog and of flying Christmas trees.

His own scream wakened him. He sat up and felt his heart pounding in his chest. Gradually a form of calmness returned. But he was still afraid and lonely. He reached out with his awareness and was astonished at what he found. Instead of the pale blue fog he was surrounded by a myriad of colours; a sight more glorious than he had ever imagined. They were shining beautifully; ever changing. Their beauty brought tears to his eyes. As he looked he noticed the bonds to his loved ones. As he spotted them, he became aware of their love and concern for him. They wanted him back just as much as he wanted to _be_ back. Silent tears ran down his cheeks.

"Please. I just want to go home. Please."

xxXxx

On the planet Hallow IV, in the sacred city of Travesty, a stately woman snapped out of her meditation quite suddenly. She had heard a whisper on the Web of Blood. Another child of her line had need of her. With a flourish of her hand she summoned an assistant.

**Don't worry. Things will be looking better soon. Sorry about the shortness of this chapter, but there are things to come that just wouldn't fit into this chapter. **


	16. Ch16 Relatively speaking

**So, here you are. This was originally two chapters, but seeing how you are all getting impatient for the kids to get better, I decided to speed things up a bit.**

**Thank you to DoctorMarthaJones, cjh4ever, PCJanto, Torchwood Cardiff, Catt42 and Badly-knitted for your reviews. You guys are the best. Catt42: I am honoured.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Chapter 16 Relatively speaking

Myfanwy was sweeping over the Roald Dahl Plass; flying over the city in a great arc. She had noticed over the last couple of days that something was wrong. It wasn't just _her_ youngling that had disappeared; but all the younglings in the city were mysteriously gone. There were no younglings playing in the streets or in the parks. The schools were half empty now that only the fledglings remained. She thought that the city itself felt empty and silent without the laughter and the happy noises of the younglings. She batted her wings and headed straight to the west toward the woods. But the place was not as quiet as she had assumed. When she reached the area near the Lansdowne Hospital she could see a plethora of activity. Great big tents had been erected and there were people everywhere. She was just about to turn and fly away, when she spotted a youngling. She circled to get closer.

The youngling was ill. She could tell that immediately. Humans didn't normally have spots. She watched as the youngling was brought inside the building complex. Maybe her youngling was in there? She considered it for a moment. It would be dangerous. She had to stay away from buildings and from humans. They didn't react too well when she got too close to them. Once, a human had thrown something big and heavy at her, injuring her ribs. No, she didn't want to get too close. But… maybe she could keep an eye out for her youngling if she sat in a nearby tree… with that in mind she flew closer.

xxXxx

The Hub was buzzing with activity. Owen and Martha were down in the autopsy bay poring over various samples and gazing at the screens of the medical computer and some of the more alien devices. Every now and again Owen would consult a strange handheld device. When questioned about it, he had explained that the device was a special gift from an alien they had met a while back. A certain rainbow coloured alien by the name of Kali-ra. She had gifted the device to him along with four accompanying medical scanners. Each scanner could be set to monitor a patient and send the information back to the main unit; which was the one he had. Three of the scanners were now to be found at Rhiannon's house monitoring each of the children.

Toshiko would have loved to get her hands on the scanners, so she could take them apart and find out how they worked. But they needed them in good working order right now and besides, she had way too much to do anyway. Right now she was pulling up a geographical display of the spread of the disease. She shuddered. All of Cardiff was affected. Some of the surrounding areas were also becoming infected. They had had great difficulty in determining how, seeing as it was different waterworks stations pumping out water to different areas of the city.

They had of course placed a ban on drinking the water, which was modified to only ban young children. Adults and children that had entered puberty could still drink the water. They had conducted tests that showed that the virus survived both boiling and freezing, so they had no choice but bring in fresh, uninfected water in big tank trucks. But that was only for the areas not yet afflicted. In the infected areas the whole water issue was a moot one. The children were already ill and took their liquids from an IV.

She looked over at Gwen. The woman was the liaison to the police and the Home Guard regarding the water supply and the investigation into how it got infected in the first place. Toshiko had helped with going trough the CCTV footage. It had been very bizarre to say the least. A cloaked figure had appeared, held out a beautiful bottle of some kind and then… she shook her head to herself at the thought. Then the contents of the bottle had flown out of the bottle on its own accord and dumped itself in the water reservoir. The same thing had occurred at the other waterworks; one after the other. The figure had vanished without a trace and quite suddenly. One moment they were there and the next they were gone. Jack had commented that there was no sight of a transmat beam or some other technical device involved. She rather thought it looked the same as when Orion teleported from one place to the other.

xxXxx

Jack stood in the stairwell on the fourth floor of the University Hospital of Wales. He had been standing there for a few minutes looking out at the floor every now and again. He was trying to avoid being seen by the hospital staff as well as his daughter, Alice. He could see her further down the hallway, sitting on the bed alongside one wall. The bed he knew would hold his grandson, Steven.

He sighed. He really wished that their relationship was better so that he actually could see both of them. Alice had thrown him out of her house the last time he had been to see them a year ago. She just couldn't handle his immortality. His inability to remain dead had been the cause of their final fall out. He had died rather horribly and gone to her for comfort. Ianto had been too occupied with the crisis at hand at the time.

Alice had been uncomfortable around him at the best of times, but seeing him displaying evidence of having been hurt and knowing he had achieved the impossible yet again had freaked her out. She had seen Steven coming home from school and told Jack in no uncertain terms that he had to leave and stay away from them. Until now he had done so. More or less, that is. He still kept an eye out for them; made sure they were okay. He just made sure she never discovered it.

When he saw her get up and disappear down the hall, he hurriedly squeezed through the door and walked briskly to Steven's bed. He gazed down at the young boy. He looked so much like his grandmother. The blond hair; the eyes. Jack smiled and ran his hand through the child's hair. He brought out the little blue-grey teddy bear from under his coat and put it next to Steven.

"I love you, squirt. You get well and take care of your mum for me, okay?" he said gently. With a quick glance down the hall he leaned down and kissed the boy's forehead and rushed off to the stairs once again. Alice thought she saw the coat tails of a very familiar greatcoat as she returned with a cup of coffee. But the mysterious figure was gone and she turned her attention to her son once again. She immediately noticed the bear. Picking it up, she couldn't help but smile a little. She knew he wouldn't stay away.

xxXxx

Meanwhile at Lansdowne Hospital Myfanwy was perched high up among the branches of a tree. She had found a big sturdy one that was just able to carry her weight. She had looked and looked for her youngling, but being an animal, albeit an intelligent one, she lost focus on her task and fell asleep. She was in for a rude awakening though.

"I heard that it was a terrorist group." A loud voice said below.

"Are you daft? Why would a terrorist group come to Cardiff?" another voice asked.

"Well, how should I know!" the first voice answered indignantly. "I'm just saying what I heard."

Myfanwy was startled out of her dream by the sound of the fledglings below her. She balanced precariously; no longer used to sleeping on slim tree branches. For a moment she thought the danger had passed. But then the fledglings were attracted by the ruffling sound she made and looked up. When they saw her they all let out a loud scream. Startled by the sound Myfanwy lost her balance and tumbled out of the tree only to crash amidst the fledglings. 'Will they ever stop screaming?' she thought annoyed, as she righted her self.

'Oh oh.' The sound had attracted the attention of the humans in black uniforms and red caps. They were carrying big black sticks. 'Oh no.' Her heart began pounding. Before she could make her escape, they had surrounded her pointing their big black sticks at her and looked mean. She was close to panic; there was not enough room for her to fly away. She couldn't fly straight up due to the tree branches and the humans were blocking her. She panicked and made a rush for it. The humans yelled and the black sticks made a loud sound and something bit her.

At least that's what she thought. She screamed in pain and fear. The noise came again and something bit her again. She fell to the ground; her heart pounding as the world turned black.

xxXxx

The UNIT Colonel grumbled as he was called away from the command post. A young soldier, new to corps, had called him out to see a strange creature they had captured. He had claimed that it was a dinosaur. 'Please.' He thought derogatorily. 'If this is a joke… if some of the other, more experienced, soldiers are toying with the young man I will have them scrubbing toilets with their toothbrushes for a year.' He stomped after the soldier over to a clump of trees.

The soldiers were forming a circle around the creature on the ground; their guns still pointed at it. They made way for him as he approached. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"Good Lord!" He had been warned about the abnormalities of Cardiff, but seeing one of them in front of him… "How extraordinary." The lieutenant was standing at attention beside him. He waved his hand to indicate the man could report. He almost jumped to it.

"Sir. This creature was found attacking a group of teenagers. The men shot it in order to subdue it. It is still alive and the injuries to it are minimal. It seems to have passed out more due to stress then due to being shot." The Colonel nodded. Animals were funny that way some times. "Sir, the animal is wearing a tag around one ankle." The Colonel looked at the man sharply and stared at the animal's feet. Sure enough. There was a metal band around the right ankle, similar to those found on birds. Only this one was obviously much larger. He raised his eyebrow.

"Well, what does it say?" he asked the lieutenant. The man looked at him strangely, before replying.

"I think you should see that for yourself, sir." He clamped his jaw and straightened his back. The Colonel stared at the man, before humouring him. He straightened his jacket and sucked in his stomach. Then he stepped closer and read the inscription on the tag:

There was a familiar T-shaped logo followed by _Myfanwy. If found, please call this number_ followed by a telephone number. He cursed.

xxXxx

An hour later the black Torchwood SUV pulled up in front of the Colonel's headquarters. Out climbed Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper. The Captain was dressed in his normal attire of greatcoat and blue shirt. The young female soldier serving as administrative staff couldn't help but admire his good looks. She barely spared a glance at the elegant young woman getting out of the SUV with the Captain.

"You know, of all the members of Torchwood I have had to bail out of jail, I never would have guessed I'd need to do so for _this_ one." He joked with a smile and an American accent to his colleague. She laughed and answered with a clear Welsh accent:

"You never had to bail me out though." He laughed.

"Not yet, no." He turned to look at the young soldier and his facial expression became very flirtatious. "Well hello." He whistled appreciatively. "I think UNIT definitely knows how to pick 'em." He wagged his eyebrows at her and she felt her blush spreading. He turned to look expectantly at his colleague. When she didn't say or do anything, he sighed in disappointment. 'Ianto would have made a comment about sexual harassment and rolled his eyes' he thought. To the young soldier, he said with a winning smile:

"Captain Jack Harkness. This is Gwen Cooper. We're here to collect our _pet_." The soldier blushed even more furiously. The man was sex on legs.

"Ms. Ngambo, sir. If you'll follow me…" she turned and led them briskly to the Colonel's desk.

The Colonel had of course seen them arrive and had unobtrusively been keeping an eye on them. He rose as they approached. They greeted each other.

"I must say, it is a most remarkable creature. However did it come here?" the Colonel asked as he led the way over to the site where the animal still lay.

"She is that and I can't tell you. Its classified." The Captain answered him with a small smile. The Colonel laughed.

"Oh come now, Captain. I do have a high security rating. Surely high enough to know about this." The Captain just smiled and kept on walking.

"I bet it came through that rift of yours." The two Torchwood operatives looked at him and then shared a look with each other. "Oh yes, I know about the rift. I'm glad that I don't have to deal with that stuff on a daily basis though. I'll tell you that. Well here we are." He said and held his arm out, indicating they could proceed. The soldiers guarding the animal stepped away to allow them some room. Gwen gasped and rushed to kneel down beside Myfanwy.

"She's hurt! Why did you shoot her?" she glared at the men and at the Colonel. Jack was amazed. This display of concern was coming from a woman who had been perfectly willing to shoot the animal herself not that long ago.

"It was attacking my men." The Colonel answered.

"She was probably scared! Don't you know how to deal with frightened animals?" Gwen was livid. This whole situation was just bad enough without Myfanwy getting hurt. Orion would never forgive them if they lost her. She gasped inwardly at the thought. 'Oh no, it's happened. I've gone soft.'

As Gwen was dealing with the Colonel – by dealing, he meant scolding the man and all the nearby soldiers like they were little irresponsible children – Jack checked on Myfanwy. She would need to be stable in order for them to be able to transport her back to the Hub. Her breathing was good. Her heartbeat seemed fine. The bullet wounds had stopped bleeding. They didn't seem too bad. He didn't think they had hit anything vital. If they were lucky they would just be flesh wounds. She would need to have the bullets removed and get patched up, but it wouldn't be something Owen couldn't manage.

Standing back up he put a hand on Gwen's shoulder to make her stop her yelling. The woman didn't respond.

"Gwen!" he said loudly. She didn't hear him or she ignored him. He tried again, louder. This time she stopped. He looked at the Colonel in front of him. He was a man in his prime and a rather fine looking specimen. Jack pushed the thought away. They had hurt a member of his team and his family.

"Colonel, you had better be thankful that Cardiff needs your help at the moment, or I would not hesitate to have you thrown out of the country before you can say Torchwood." The Colonel spluttered at the preposterous arrogance of the man. "You are not so familiar with the peculiarities of Cardiff that you can just proceed to gun down the first unusual creature you see. It could just as easily have been an alien ambassador. Your actions could have started an interplanetary war." Seeing the man go pale as the Captain's words sunk in, he decided to continue: "Myfanwy," he indicated the animal "will need to go back with us. We will need the help of your men to get her there."

"Of course," the Colonel said stammering a little. "You shall have all the help you need,"

"Right then!" Jack yelled, clapping his hands together. "Do you have a tarp?"

Some time later the UNIT soldiers used the tarp as a stretcher and hauled Myfanwy off the invisible lift and into an out-of-the-way corner of the Hub. Owen rushed over and began her treatment immediately. As Jack had suspected she had only suffered from flesh wounds, though one of them had been rather deep. She had passed out from stress and fear. The beautiful lady was after all not used to such rough handling.

As they were finishing off the debriefing Jack got a call on his mobile. It was from Ianto.

"Jack, get here now!" and the line went dead.

xxXxx

Ianto was standing in front of Orion's bed; shielding him from the stranger that had suddenly appeared in his nephew's bedroom. The stranger was a stately looking woman in her fifties. She wore golden-green tights and a sort of green tunic with a belt at the waist. The tunic was long and ornately decorated. What impressed him the most, though, was the way she carried herself. There was an almost regal air about her. The woman didn't seem threatening; in fact she hadn't made a move. She just stood there looking around the room and at him and Orion behind him. He thought for a moment that she seemed relieved about something.

Ianto grabbed his mobile and called Jack. The woman just observed him; but he got the distinct impression she would defend herself if she needed to. He heard the line connecting.

"Jack, get here now!" He hung up. He glanced briefly at Orion and then looked back at the woman. She was looking intensely at Orion; frowning slightly. He became even more worried. What was it with alien females and his son? She had to be alien, even though she looked human. Humans didn't go around appearing out of thin air in other peoples homes. The only person who could do something like that was Orion. He drew in a sharp breath.

The woman appeared to have noticed and swiftly turned her gaze on him. Still frowning she asked:

"The boy; what is his illness?" her voice was unusual, but pleasant. It sounded slightly hoarse, though he suspected that it was a natural sound and not one induced by excessive use. He was taken aback. Of all the things she could have said, this had not been what he had expected. He opened his mouth but no words came. The woman grew irritated with him. "What is wrong with the child?"

"Wha… who?.. wh…" he stammered.

"Oh for Miduna's sake!" she burst out and made to move toward Orion. Ianto snapped out of his stupor and blocked her. Her eyes flashed angrily at him for a moment, before she backed down and sighed heavily.

"My name is Rea Caralneska. That," she pointed at Orion "is my grandson. One of the seven children of my daughter, Sybille Caralneska." She looked at him; waiting for him to respond. He forgot to breathe. The world seemed to slow to a halt and all he could do was stare at her. This was too much. He had had precious little sleep lately. He'd barely been able to eat. His nerves were stretched taut with all the worrying and now this. He felt the blood rush away and his face became cold.

"My dear, are you alright?" she asked with concern as she saw him go pale. "You're not going to…" she rushed forward and caught him as he fainted.

"Ianto, I've made you some sandwi… what the hell?" Rhiannon stood in the doorway with a tray of sandwiches and a glass of milk.

xxXxx

Jack burst through the door and thundered up the stairs toward Orion's temporary room, before Gwen could even get out of the car. He ran down the hallway and almost overshot the door. Grabbing the door frame he managed to screech to a halt. The sight before him was not what he had expected. He had been on his way after Ianto's strange call when he had gotten a frantic call from Johnny, stating that a strange woman had attacked Ianto and was in the room with Ianto and Orion now; doing God knows what to them. He had naturally floored the gas pedal; making Gwen scream like a human siren.

Oh, there _was_ a strange woman in the room with Ianto and Orion. But she wasn't doing anything _to_ them. On the contrary. She was sitting on a chair eating a sandwich. Ianto was sitting in a chair opposite her. He was looking a bit pale and leaning a bit heavily against the back rest, but appeared unharmed none the less. Rhiannon was sitting on the bed tending to Orion, who also seemed unharmed. Jack clasped the doorframe, as he tried to get his breathing under control and to slow down his pounding heart. He could hear Gwen coming up the stairs behind him.

"What in the blazes is going on!" he half shouted, when he had breath to do so.

"Jack!" Ianto lit up and moved to get up. Rhiannon quickly grabbed his sleeve.

"Sit!" she growled. Amazingly enough Ianto obeyed her without so much as an eye roll. He did however turn and looked happily at Jack, who rushed over to him and hugged him. Whatever the hell was going on it seemed as if the danger had passed. He knew Rhiannon would not behave so calmly if there was the slightest threat to anyone she cared about. Besides it had been a long and trying day and he had not seen Ianto since early that morning. Even with every thing going on the Rift was still active and the weevils still liked to roam where they shouldn't.

He didn't know how long he held his fiancée in his arms, but it wasn't long enough. Ianto sighed as they pulled away from each other. He kept his hand on the young man's back and they both drew comfort from the touch.

"Jack, I'd like you to meet Rea Caralneska.. Sybille Caralneska's mother and Orion's grandmother." Jack glanced very briefly at Ianto and then stared at the woman. Yes, he could see the resemblance.

"Ma'am…" he couldn't think of a thing to say. Too many thoughts were speeding through his mind at that moment. She smiled benignly at him.

"Captain Harkness," she began. "Oh, your mate has spoken of you." She sent Ianto a winning smile. "I am afraid I must apologize for all the anxiety I have caused. That was certainly not my intention. I was merely too focused on my grandson to pay much heed to niceties." She looked a bit embarrassed. "My people do not normally Jump into people's homes without permission. It's considered rude." She smiled crookedly.

"Jump?" Ianto asked. She looked at him and then at some point over his shoulder, thinking.

"I believe you would call it teleporting or transmatting or some such." Ianto nodded.

"Forgive me, but… why are you here? How?" Rhiannon had had enough with the hospitable niceties. She had agreed to wait until Jack's arrival but now she wanted some answers. The regal woman regarded her with kindness. Nodding she agreed.

"Very well, I shall tell you. But first shall we not include the young lady and your mate?" she indicated Gwen and Johnny, both standing in the doorway. The others turned and Jack waved them into the room. Johnny chose to remain standing by the door, leaning against the wall. He wanted easy access to Mica and David in the other room. Gwen came over and sat cross legged on the floor. Rea looked at each of them. Finally her eyes rested on Orion and she began her tale.

"I was meditating in the chapel, when I was contacted by a presence. It was a young and frightened mind calling out instinctively for help." They all looked at Orion. Rhiannon, still sitting on the bed, took his hand and held it comfortingly. Ianto looked like he wanted to do the same. "I knew it was a child of my line… a member of my family… because we… Saluvian families… all share a bond with each other. Some bonds are forged through contact; others through blood. Or DNA to be more precise. Somehow Orion was able to tap into that and send a sort of distress signal to me. Though how one so young would be able to…" she broke off. Seeing Ianto's expression she added gently: "I am convinced the child also has sent out a distress signal to you." She looked at Ianto, Jack and Rhiannon. Jack raised an eyebrow and Rhiannon looked sceptical. It sounded too much like rubbish to her. But then again. The kid was able to change into a dragon, turn her son's clothing pink and randomly teleport away. Ianto was looking thoughtful. Slowly he nodded; his brows furrowing.

"Yes… I think he has." He said so softly the others had to struggle to hear him. Jack looked at him with curiosity. He had always suspected the young man had a greater than normal empathy for a human of his time period. Rhiannon looked surprised, worried and sceptical all at once. 'If this was some sort of a hoax…' The woman, Rea was quietly watching him. "I have… felt it, I think. Like a feeling that wasn't my own." He looked down at the floor. Jack clutched him tighter to let him know he was there for him.

"What kind of feeling?" Gwen asked, slightly confused.

"Like being lost." Ianto answered sadly. Jack was just about to point out that that feeling could be his own, as a parent to a very ill child. But Rea spoke first.

"I think you are correct." She nodded sagely. "There is a strong bond between a parent and a child. It is very likely for you to reach one another this way." Jack was feeling a bit left out by that. If that was true, then why hadn't _he_ heard Orion? He had as much of a connection to Orion as Ianto had and _he_ was the one with the training in telepathy. He said as much. To his surprise Rea chuckled at him.

"You have not been able to hear him, because you have been too busy." She held up a hand to stop his protests. "There is nothing wrong with that, my dear. The world does go on and still needs tending to, regardless of our own personal dramas." The room was silent for a few moments as they all sat lost in their own thoughts.

"But how did you come here?" Gwen asked. Rea smiled beautifully.

"I Jumped… eh, teleported."

"But. Didn't you come from… Saluvia?" The woman laughed outright at that.

"Goodness, no. There is no such thing as Saluvia any more. It was destroyed many millennia ago. I came from my home on Hallow IV and the sacred city of Travesty. I _am_ a Mistress of the _fourth_ house, you know." The pride was unmistakable, whatever that last sentence had meant. "My daughter was an apprentice of that house." She said to Ianto and Jack. She noticed their look of utter incomprehension and shook her head. "Oh never mind." Her huff made Jack smile a bit. She noticed and smiled softly back at him.

"Anyway, I came here as soon as I was able to. I wanted to see if there was anything I could do. But now I've seen that the cause is an illness and not…" she cut off abruptly. The others in the room noticed and all looked at her. "Well, you might as well know sooner or later. My former son-in-law, my daughter's murderer, has escaped confinement and has gone on a killing spree." The room was dead-silent. The looks of shock evident on all their faces. Tears began to trickle down Rea's face and her hair changed colour to a mousy gray. Rhiannon gasped when she saw. If anything could convince her of the woman's familial relations with Orion it would be evidence of shape shifting and/or colour changing.

"He is really quite mad." She sniffled and suddenly a handkerchief appeared in her hand out of thin air and she used it to dab at her eyes and nose. "He wants to eradicate all Sybille's children." Ianto paled again and Jack put his arm around him. He didn't feel too stable himself though. Rhiannon had her hand in front of her open mouth looking like she would scream if she had been able to utter a sound. Gwen and Johnny were both hiding their reactions. Johnny could feel himself trembling inside, but he had to remain calm. 'What kind of a person would want to murder innocent children?'

Rea was crying in earnest now. Rhiannon couldn't bare it any longer, and went over to her and put her arm around her. Rea sniffled and blew her nose, though her tears still fell freely.

"Sybille had seven children. Only two of them were with her husband. That's why he killed her. And why he has killed… killed… three of them." By now they were all crying or fighting to avoid it. "The two that he is the father of, as well as the third child are all in protective custody. We were too late to save the rest." She forced herself to continue, or she would never be able to. "When Orion called out to me, I thought… thought that he too was under attack." She blew her nose again.

"Maybe he is." Jack said. "The water supply was deliberately contaminated by an unknown virus."

* * *

><p><strong>Hmm, it's January, there are no leaves on the trees, people are milling all over the place and yet no one spots a large dinosaur up among the branches? Let's just chuck that one down as creative license shall we? ;-)<strong>

**So, longest chapter yet. What do you think?**


	17. Ch17 Backgrounds, explanations and cures

**Thank you to ShellyMay, proudtobeatheatrekid, cjh4ever, Badly-knitted and Y.R. Night for your wonderful reviews. You guys are the best. **

**Cjh4ever: The answer to your query is in this chapter. **

**Y.R. Night: I thought it was spelled wrong too, but was too lazy to search for it. Spell-check can only do so much, after all. I know there are mistakes in spelling and grammar; though I hope I've managed to catch the worst of them but thank you so much for your high praise.**

**Hmm, I am not entirely satisfied with the start of this chapter. It's too much info at to short a space, but I couldn't get it to work otherwise. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. I do own Orion and the Saluvian/Micurii'an species, as well as the mistakes. Onward…**

Chapter 17 Backgrounds, explanations and cures, oh my!

The room was silent. Rea gazed at Jack in shock. 'That… man… had gone after Sybille's youngest.' She shook with the intensity of her frayed emotions. These last few months had been awful. First she had felt her daughter's death. Her psychic cry would haunt her forever. Parents were not supposed to outlive their children. But she had had no time for mourning. There was a funeral to arrange. And she had to take care of the grieving children _and_ provide a home for those of the children that had lived with Sybille. Two of the children lived with their respective fathers, but they also needed to be with their siblings and share their grief with the family.

Then the reading of the will had followed and the legal proceedings to sign over custody to the fathers; and all the arrangements to have two of the children shipped off-world. Orion was sent to Earth and his half-sister was sent to a small colony world in a rather remote sector. She had despaired of ever seeing them again. She had thought to contest the will and fight to keep the children together and at home with her, but in the end the lawyers had advised her not to.

And then of course there was the trial and her testimony. Her former son-in-law, Lartorc, had been convicted and sentenced to treatment at the First House, also known as the House of Compassion or the Healing House. The man was obviously insane if he was capable of such an act. The Masters and Mistresses at the First House had been horrified at the extent of his madness. It had been many years since Hallow IV had had to deal with a homicidal sociopath. The lack of experience had presumably enabled his escape. Their security had not been tight enough and the staff had been fooled by his cunningly innocent demeanour.

When they told her the news of Lartorc's escape, she had felt a rage unrivalled by any she had experienced in her 189 years. She had contacted the First House immediately and thrown a major tantrum. They had cowered before her. As a high ranking Mistress of the Fourth House her power was one to be reckoned with. After a substantial rant she finally calmed down and used the good sense the goddess Miduna had given her. She then organised the trans-House taskforce and set to work of capturing her now much-hated former son-in-law.

They had sealed off every spaceport and posted guards there, so he couldn't steal a ship and get off-world. But the man was nothing if not cunning. As a Micurii'an he had used his ability to change his gender, making him appear as a Calroon female.

Saluvians and Micurii'ans are very similar peoples, and originate from the same homeworld, known as Saluvia to the Saluvians and as Micurii to the Micurii'ans. The only significant difference between them is that Micurii'ans don't have a gender, though they may have a preference toward being one or the other. They can change their gender as freely as they can change their species or colouration. Most often they are referred to as male or female due to their preference, but it is technically incorrect. The Saluvians on the other hand _have_ a gender and cannot change it.

This gender issue has been the cause of much hostility throughout the ages and ultimately caused the destruction of their homeworld. The survivors were forced to abandon hostilities and enter an alliance with their former enemy. Neither population was substantial enough for the race to survive on its own, so in the end they had to interbreed. Laws were passed to ensure the continuation of the species. But even so, it had only been a couple of generations since The War and lingering hostility remained.

The guard had let the Calroon female pass, since the escapee they were looking for was a male. He had simply assumed they were looking for a Saluvian. Needless to say his punishment was severe when his negligence was discovered.

Lartorc had then stolen a ship, hidden it and instead of fleeing at the first opportune moment he had waited. When they were looking else were for him, he had killed off three of the children one by one, before they had even made the connection between the murders and him. An attempt had been made on the fourth, but he had been interrupted before he could finish the job. After that he had fled and they had been unable to track him. The taskforce had run around like a headless chicken trying to keep up with all the reports coming in. The whole world it seemed had gone into a collective panic and was seeing Lartorc everywhere and anywhere. Countless false sightings and unrelated happenings muddled up their investigation. They had not known if Lartorc was still on the planet or if he had a ship. Though both species could Jump (or teleport) from one place to the other, the distances between solar systems were too great for even the most powerful Jumper. As a result they had developed the technology to make their spaceships Jump for them.

It meant Lartorc could be anywhere. Some reports stated that he had been spotted on the second moon, others that he was still on the planet. They had hurried to secure the surviving children on Hallow IV, but it took time to organise the people and the ships needed to go off world for Orion and his half-sister. And then Orion had sent his distress call to Rea.

"I don't know how much more I can take." She whispered with a quivering voice, her eyes were closed and she looked very pale. Jack opened his mouth to offer some form of comfort, but he never got the chance. A young man appeared suddenly in the corner of the room. Gwen shrieked in surprise and several of the other occupants in the room startled. The man had his back half turned to them and he looked around in confusion. When he turned he spotted them and their other guest. Noticing her he lit up in relief.

"Mistress, there is a message for you from Commander Frawn." He glanced friendlily at the others in the room, before looking back at Rea. The Humans were looking from one to the other. Some on guard, others more curious then apprehensive. She sighed.

"This is my assistant, Xarion Yip." She said to the Humans. "What is the message?" The young man was practically buzzing with his eagerness to serve his mentor.

"Young miss Zartuna Carelneska has been secured unharmed. There have been no sighting of Lartorc on the colony." She nodded.

"It would seem your theory is correct, Xarion." The young man beamed with the praise. "Lartorc was not informed of the location of any of the children, with the exception of the two he has a biological claim on." She sighed. "We know he looked through Sybille's papers when this whole mess started. He must have seen at least some of the names, maybe even the locations, of the other fathers." She looked at Jack and Ianto. Jack was tight-lipped and you could see cogwheels in his brain turning. Ianto was holding his breath, looking like he wanted to ask a million questions. She got up and started pacing; making Gwen scramble out the way.

"Who's Lartorc? And this Saturna?" she asked. Rea kept pacing deep in thought. It was the young man, Xarion, who answered.

"Miss Zartuna is Mistress Rea's second youngest grandchild and Lartorc is her former son-in-law."

"So this Lartorc fellow is the one who caused all the kids to get sick?" Rhiannon piped in angrily. She looked expectantly at the others. Jack nodded tensely at her.

"But… Why?"

"He must not have known Orion's exact location… so he's chosen to infect all the young children in the hopes of getting to the right one." Jack said despondently. Xarion nodded in the background.

She stared harshly at Jack before blowing a fuse.

"What! … What the hell are you sitting around here for then? Go catch the bastard! It's what you do isn't it? Catch bad aliens?"

"Rhi…" Ianto tried timidly. She whirled on him.

"No! Don't you 'Rhi' me, Ianto Jones! I will not stand for it! These aliens come here and infect all our kids, making them sick with who knows what. They could all die, Ianto! They just lie there. My babies…" her voice broke as she was overcome by tears. Ianto rushed up to hug her. Johnny was right behind him and together they did their best to console her. Xarion looked at the scene with slight astonishment. He had never known an unchangeable (A/N non-shapechanger) with such an astonishing display of colours. Her aura was magnificent. He snapped out of it when Rea moved past him.

"What _is_ wrong with the children?" he _had_ noticed Orion's still form on the bed, but had not found the moment to enquire until now. Rea told him what she knew of the situation. His eyes widened and he paled alarmingly.

"Oh my. Mistress, the day Lartorc escaped from the First House, there was a break in and one of their storage canisters was stolen. They didn't find out until a couple of days after because of all the commotion." He paused. "The canister contained six different pathogens, including Practor's virus and Tarq Pox virus." Rea stopped her pacing, looked up and swore most unladylike.

xxXxx

They had relocated to kitchen, where Ianto had served coffee to the Humans and tea to the aliens. Apparently the visitors didn't find the caffeine and the bitter taste of coffee to their liking. Johnny and Rhiannon were upstairs with the kids, so it was just Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Xarion and Rea. They were talking quietly among themselves while waiting for Toshiko to set up the video conference on the computer. The emotions among the Humans were shifting between despair and hope and every emotion in between. Jack was leaning on Ianto's shoulder in a half embrace. Ianto was staring glumly at the countertop in front of him. Gwen was helping Toshiko from their end. Finally the link was established and Toshiko, Owen and Martha were now seen on the computer screen.

Jack decided that now was the time for him to take charge again. With a gentle squeeze he let go of Ianto and straightened into a soldier's stance.

"Right. Toshiko, Owen, Martha. I'd like you to meet Rea, Orion's grandmother and Xarion, her assistant." They all greeted each other, as Jack proceeded to introduce his team members and their functions to the two visitors. He had already explained the aliens' presence and given a debriefing about the latest developments, when he contacted the Hub. "You told us that Lartorc has stolen some viruses." He began, hesitating slightly at the unfamiliar sound of the perpetrators name. "What can you tell us about them?"

The two visitors looked at each other, communicating silently. Rea gave a curt nod and Xarion responded with a businesslike efficiency.

"There were six pathogens in the canister he stole. Five of them viruses and the last was a fungus, known for its devastating effect on the nervous system of most mammals if ingested. The viruses are: Practor's virus, an airborne hemorrhagic fever with a 90 % mortality rate. Tarq Pox virus, a plague-like disease with a high mortality rate among children, elderly and weakened people. Wreean virus, a children's disease that has been almost eradicated due to vaccinations. The VKL2M virus causes Xquandir's disease, a paralyzing and muscle wasting disease. The last one, VN3K4 virus, is a virus that disrupts the upper functions of the so-called transcendental abilities in both Micurii'ans and Saluvians." He finished slightly out of breath. He took a sip of his tea as Gwen asked what transcendental abilities were. This time Rea answered.

"The transcendental abilities are what some species refer to as a magic." Gwen spluttered and Owen scoffed. Both Ianto and Jack looked at Rea rather sharply, paying close attention. Rea smiled benignly. It was not the first time she had encountered this reaction in other species. "The word is of course not entirely correct. There is a scientific explanation for everything; it is just that very few species have discovered it yet. Indeed we are still learning and many things are just accepted by us as being magical until we can apply the scientific explanation to it." Gwen was nodding, though it was clear she really didn't fully understand. Rea turned her attention back to her assistant.

"Well, considering the symptoms the most likely cause of the children's sickness would be the Wreean virus." Rea startled at this. She frowned.

"Wreean virus has never caused these spots before. Fevers and unconsciousness, but not spots." She protested. Xarion bowed his head apologetically, but continued to stand his ground.

"Not in Micurii'ans and Saluvians, no." Rea drew in a sharp breath in understanding. "These children are Human; it would only be natural that the virus would cause other symptoms in them."

"But what about Orion? He has the same symptoms as the others." Ianto asked desperately. He felt as if he had been given some hope only to have it snatched away from him again. Jack took his hand in his in a show of support. It wasn't Xarion who answered though, but Martha, speaking from the computer screen.

"Orion is 2/3 Human. There might be some differences, but he should still be affected the same way as the others." Owen and Xarion were nodding.

"But you said that the disease was almost eradicated by vaccinations. Wouldn't Orion have been inoculated against it then?" Jack asked in confusion. Rea looked startled.

"I… I don't know. It's not done until the babies are strong enough. Orion might not have gotten it before being shipped off to Earth." She looked a bit embarrassed. Ianto cursed inwardly. He was growing steadily less impressed by the Saluvians as time progressed. For such a talented people they showed a great ineptitude toward a lot of mundane things.

"So we _are_ to blame." Jack whispered devastated to him self. Nevertheless heads turned to look at him. "He would not have gotten sick, if he wasn't our son. And he wouldn't have been sent here and all the other children wouldn't have gotten sick." His voice broke. Unbidden tears formed and slid down his cheek. Ianto immediately pulled him into a hug and Jack hid his face in the crook of Ianto's neck. Ianto placed a soft kiss on his fiancées head, silently suffering from much the same misgivings and self recriminations. The team looked at their boss' uncharacteristic breakdown and the young archivist's effortless handling of him and felt they were intruding upon a very private, seldom seen moment between the two lovers.

"Now you listen to me! Both of you!" Rea exploded. "It is no one's fault but that cretin I used to call a son-in-law. You hear me? If you hadn't done what you did, then Orion would never have been born and none of you would have gotten to know him." She softened into a gentle smile. "I for one think the world would be a sadder place without him. And I don't really know him anymore! He was just a small baby the last time I took care of him." She put a hand on Jack's back. "You have done an amazing job taking care of him. Any fool can see that. Just look at all these people wanting to help you get him back to good health again." She indicated the others listening. Toshiko was crying silently and Owen used the opportunity to put his arm around her. Gwen was locking her jaw in a fierce look, determined not to go soft, yet failing. Martha was hiding her emotions behind a professional mask, but even so her eyes were suspiciously moist.

Ianto looked at them. Tears in his own eyes. He could feel Jack shaking in his embrace. "Thank you" he mouthed and gently moved and guided Jack toward the door. He knew Jack very rarely broke down like this and knew he would need some time to gather him self together. Jack seemed so lost like this he observed, feeling his own heart breaking.

"Come on, let's go outside. Get a bit of fresh air." He whispered softly in Jack's ear as he steered him through the door.

The kitchen was silent as the others watched them leave. Then the sound of Owen clearing his throat broke the silence.

"As cuddly as this is," Toshiko elbowed him gently "we really should get a move on." The others shook off the pensive mood and focused on the task at hand. "If you have vaccines to this disease, does that also mean you have a cure?" Owen asked gruffly. He was longing for a good nights sleep and to have no worries for a while. Xarion beamed happily.

"Yes, we have. Though it might need to be adapted to Human physiology." Both Owen and Martha nodded. They would have expected nothing less.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Owen harped. An excited discussion followed as plans were made to procure and exchange samples and for the Human doctors and the alien healers to work together toward curing the children of the malady that had been inflicted upon them.

xxXxx

Two weeks later and a major breakthrough occurred, when a healer on Hallow IV decided to experiment with a drug normally used to treat a particular hormonal syndrome in Micurii'ans. When she had combined it with the existing treatment for Wreean virus infection she saw that the virus in the Human blood sample was being destroyed. The happy excitement was soon spreading all over the First House as the news became known. Every test showed the same. A cure for the Wreean virus in Humans had been found.

xxXxx

Jack and Ianto were hovering by the head of the bed, as the bag with the cure was added to Orion's IV. Owen smirked up at them.

"There. Now all we have to do is wait." He said as he got up to leave. Jack put his hand on Owen's shoulder and made to speak. But no words came. Owen just nodded knowingly and left the little family. The alien monitoring device would inform him of any changes. He went down the hall to the room with Mica and David. Martha was just finishing up with Mica's IV, having already done David's. Rhiannon and Johnny were unknowingly mimicking the two men in the other room, right down to the tense stance. Johnny was standing behind his wife, his arms around her. Just like Jack's had been around Ianto. Martha smiled at him as she approached and together they went down into the kitchen. It would be long wait still. There was no guarantee that the cure would work in a real body, just because it worked in the lab.

xxXxx

Orion was running aimlessly across the weird foggy place, shouting desperately for help. Calling for his Daddy and Tad. He had no idea how long he had been there. Time seemed unmoving. But as he ran he began to feel sluggish and heavy. As if he had suddenly grown exceedingly tired. Exhausted he allowed him self to collapse on the grassy shaped fog. He was breathing rapidly from his run and he waited for it to slow down. He looked up in the foggy bluish 'sky' and it seemed as if it was becoming darker. This frightened him. Until now the place had remained a constant, yet ever changing bluish fog. It had never had a night or day. Somehow he didn't think it was just the night falling.

He whimpered in alarm. His body now felt so heavy as if the weight of an elephant sat on him. He wanted to move; to find his way home. He wanted his parents. He was really scared now.

And it kept getting darker.

xxXxx

Owen pelted up the stairs to Orion's room. The monitor had alerted him to Orion's increased heart rate and heightened levels of adrenalin. He all but pushed Jack off the bed in his hurry to examine the child. Not that Jack protested. Instead he joined Ianto and together they looked on anxiously.

Orion was thrashing in his bed again. Small whimpers and mewling sounds issued from his mouth. Owen was concentrating so deeply that he didn't hear Rea enter the room.

"He is frightened." She said softly and in a low voice. There was a strange air about her. An almost supernatural quality. Jack supposed she was using her so-called transcendental abilities. "Touch him; let him hear you voice." They looked at Owen and Orion. Owen was shaking his head slightly, as if he couldn't figure out what was causing the anxiety or how to make it stop. Ianto made a decision and moved closer to the bed side. Squatting down, he put his hand on Orion's forehead and said:

"Orion, Love, can you hear me? It's Tad. We're right here, Love. Daddy and Tad are right here. Don't be scared. You're going to be just fine. Everything will be okay." Owen was blinking rapidly as he stepped away from the bed. Ianto quickly took his place on the side of the bed and Jack joined him; adding his voice and touch to that of his lover's. Orion still writhed on the bed.

xxXxx

Orion was lying in almost total darkness now, still trying to struggle against the heaviness in his limbs. Then he heard. His Tad's voice! His Tad was speaking to him and Orion could have laughed and cried with relief, had he been able to. As it was he was increasingly trapped inside him self. Then the idea struck him. The bond! He turned his awareness toward the bond he shared with his parents, as his Daddy's voice joined his Tad's. He welcomed them and clung to them. The bond was still vibrant and beautiful lighting up his vision almost blinding him. They were touching him, he realised. Their touch was empowering the bond. Maybe he could use it to leave?

xxXxx

"Yes, keep going. It's working." Rea said to the two men. The room was slowly filling with people, as they came to see what was happening. Ianto carefully picked up his son and cradled him as he had done when the child had been a baby. Jack threw his arm around him and stroked Orion's hair, cheek and upper arm. Orion's eyelids fluttered.

"Come on, baby. Come back to us. We miss you." Jack said, his voice a bit wobbly with the strain of his pent up emotions. Orion's eyelids fluttered again and then they were slowly opened.

"Daddy?" a weak voice asked. "Tad?" Ianto started sobbing in relief as he clutched his son close to him. Jack hugged the both of them; tears running down his face as he answered:

"Yes, baby, we're here. You're safe now."

xxXxx

It took a little longer, but soon Mica and David also came around. Unlike Orion's mysterious experience in a strange dreamscape the other two had just fallen unconscious and had been unaware of any events around them. The children were still rather weak and would take a while to recover fully, but it didn't stop the celebration going on in the home of the Davies family and at the Hub.

As soon as the news reached Hallow IV mass production of the cure was started and preparations made for it to be shipped to Earth for immediate distribution.

xxXxx

Myfanwy was once again flying over the city in the early dusk. The waning light provided sufficient cover for her to remain unseen. 'Humans never really look at what is around them anyway.' She thought as she banked across the green expanse of the park. A few younglings were still out playing on the park playground. Oh, how she enjoyed hearing the sound of their play once again. She winced when her movement made her injuries twinge a bit. She wasn't completely recovered from her bullet wounds yet. She still had to be careful of her movements but there was no way that she would stay cooped up indoors any longer. She headed toward the woods, hoping to catch some prey there.

The End

* * *

><p><strong>So this it. The end. But don't worry. I have plans for a sequel. There is still so much to tell. I just have to plot it out properly before I publish it.<strong>

**They have to catch Lartorc, there's Jack and Ianto's wedding. There's Orion's training and meeting his bondmate and the whole awkward adolescent growing up thing. In fact the events where Orion meets his bondmate are what inspired this fic.**

**I just want to thank each and every one of you who have taken the time to read this story. Your interest has been so rewarding and all the favs, alerts and reviews have been amazing. Thank you so much for your support. **

**I hope to entertain you all again in the sequel.**

**Now, if you would be so kind and give me a review. Please?**


	18. autors note about the sequel

This is just to let you know that the first chapters to the sequel is now posted.

It's called: "Family for dummies"

Go check it out


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